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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Shelf -S.fc.a.o 

tAJ 3 

united states of america. 



THE CHAUTAUQUA TALKS. 



No. 1. 
Talks about the Weather By Charles Barnard. 

(now ready.) 

No. 2. 

Talks about the Soil By Charles Barnard. 

(in active preparation.) 

No. 3. 

Talks about our Useful Plants ... By Charles Barnard. 

(in active preparation.) 

No. 4. 
Talks about our Useful Animals . . By Henry E. Alvord. 

(in active preparation.) 



This is a series of four interesting and instructive books on the 
Weather, the Soils of the Farm, the Useful Plants and Animals, and 
their relations to work and to business. 

The first book of the series is a familiar talk about the weather in 
its ic-lation to the care of plants and animals. 

The second book is devoted to a series of experiments and studies 
concerning the soil in its relation to the profitable culture of plants. 

The third book considers the useful plants cultivated in all climates 
and under glass, and the methods used in cultivating them. 

The fourth book is devoted to the care of our useful animals, their 
habits, wants, and profitable treatment for work and the market. 

Each book contains a series of simple, cheap, and interesting experi- 
ments and observations to illustrate the laws that govern the relations 
of the soil, the weather, and plants and animals, to each other. The 
books were prepared for the use of the members of the Chautauqua 
Town and Country Club (a branch of the Chautauqua University), 
and form the required readings of the club, and are designed to lay the 
foundation for a thorough course of study in the science of agriculture. 
At the same time, the aim has been to make them of use to farmers 
and gardeners, teachers, schools, and all who wish to know something 
of the general principles underlying the production of wealth from the 
ground. 



d 1 ■ Ci d 



Talks about the^eather 



IN ITS RELATION TO 



PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 



A BOOK OF OBSERVATIONS FOR FARMERS, STUDENTS, 
AND SCHOOLS. 



BY 



CHARLES BARNARD, 
u 

AUTHOR OF "my TEN-ROD FARM," "a SIMPLE FLOWER-GARDEN,'^ 

" THE TONE-MASTERS," " KNIGHTS OF TO-DAY," 

" CO-OPERATION AS A BUSINESS," ETC. 



/ /) 



BOSTON 
CHAUTAUQUA PRESS, 

117 FRANKLIN STREET. 
1885. 



o 



CjV.0 
-33 



Copyright, 1S85, 
By rand, AVERY, & CO. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Prefatory Note v 

Introduction x 



CHAPTER I. 

THE GROUND THE SOURCE OF WEALTH. 

I. The Great Star. II. The Source of Wealth, III. The 

Great Industries 1-5 

CHAPTER II. 

THE SUN AND THE EARTH. 

IV. Their Motions. V. Day and Night. VI. The Seasons. 
VII. The Heat of the Sun. VIII. The Chemical Effect 
of Sunlight 7-14 

CHAPTER III. 

THE ATMOSPHERE. 

IX. The Atmosphere. X. The Thermometer. XI. The Tem- 
perature. XII. The Reflection of Heat: Its Absorption 
by the Air. XIII. "Forwarding." XIV. The Wind. 
XV. Air expanded by Heat. XVI. The Winds caused 
by the Sun. XVII. The Two Great Winds. XVIII, Shel- 
ter from Winds. XIX. Radiation of Heat from the 
Ground. XX. Value of Shelter. XXI. Mechanical Ef- 
fects of the W^ind 16-37 

ill 



iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

CHAPTER IV. 

CLIMA TE. 

XXII. Land and Water. XXIII. The Rain. XXIV. The Sun 
the Rain-mover. XXV. The Rainfall. XXVI. The Rain- 
gauge. XXVII. Climates. XXVIII. Weather Observa- 
tions 4i~52 

CHAPTER V. 

A R TIFICIA L CLIMA TES. 

XXIX. The Control of Temperature and Rainfall. XXX. The 
Cold-frame. XXXI. The Cold-grapery and Orchard-house. 
XXXII. The Hot-bed. XXXIII. Plant-houses. XXXIV. 
Practical Value of Observations. XXXV. The Two Roses, 62-So 

CHAPTER VI. 

CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 

XXXVI. The Travels of the Seasons. XXXVII. The Grass- 
wave. XXXVIII. The Travelling Strawberry-crop. 
XXXIX. The Plants and the Seasons. XL. Some Plant- 
histories 86-95 

CHAPTER VII. 

PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. 

XLL Our Great Farm. XLII. Plants Native to any Climate. 
XLIII. Plants and Business. XLIV. Early and Late 
Plants, or Double Crops. XLV. Crops in Succession. 
XLVI. The Useful Plants. XLVIL Conclusion . . . 100-120 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



Headquarters of the C. T. C. C, 

Houghton Farm, Mountainville, Orange Co., N.Y., 

July, 1885. 

The Chautauqua Town and Country Club is a 
branch of the Chautauqua University, and is devoted 
to the practical study of plants and animals, horticul- 
ture and agriculture. Its course of instruction extends 
over a term of two years ; and includes the observation 
and study of the weather, the growth and habits of 
plants and animals, practical work in the garden, the 
house, or upon the farm, and the reading of certain 
books. Every member on joining the Club receives 
a programme of work, and from this selects some- 
thing to do during the summer months, under in- 
structions sent by mail from the Club Headquarters. 
During each winter of the course, the members are 
required to read two books prepared specially for 
their use. This book is the first of the required read- 
ings for the first year of the class of 1887, and of all 



vi PREFATORY NOTE, 

classes formed in the future. It is to be read at 
some time during the first half of every term. In the 
spring of each year following the reading, exam- 
ination-papers will be sent to every member of the 
club reading this book during that term ; and to all 
those who answer eighty per cent of the questions 
correctly, and comply with other rules of the club, a 
diploma will be given by the Chautauqua University, 
upon the graduation of the class to which they belong. 
As the C. T. C. C. is devoted to the practical study 
of plants and animals, and farm and garden work, 
particularly in their relation to business, this book is 
designed to show the sources of wealth, and to ex- 
plain the influence of the weather upon our useful 
plants and animals. It is intended as a general intro- 
duction to the study of those things that immediately 
concern the health and well-being of plants and 
animals, — the sun, the motions of the earth, the tem- 
perature, the rain, the seasons and climates. It also 
includes a study of the relations of these things to 
business, and the actual making of money through the 
growth of plants and the care of animals. The book 
contains a great number of easy and interesting ex- 
periments and observations of the w^eather; and no 
one reading the book, whether a member of the 



PREFATORY NOTE. VU 

C. T. C. C. or not, should fail to make the observa- 
tions and perform the experiments. 

This book was prepared at the Club Headquarters, 
and all the reports of phenomena are from actual 
observations made by the chief of the experimental 
station at the farm. It was also prepared under the 
immediate supervision of Major Henry E. Alvord, 

manager of Houghton Farm. 

THE AUTHOR. 

For particulars concerning the C. T. C. C, and for 
application-blanks for membership, address Miss Kate 
F. Kimball; Plainiield, New Jersey. 



Viii PREFATORY NOTE. 



TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHAUTAUQUA 
TOWN AND COUNTRY CLUB. 



This book, entitled " Talks about the Weather," is 
the first book of our course of readings. We all join 
in reading this book, at least once, at some time dur- 
ing the first year we are members of the Club. If you 
are a member of the class of 1887, you will please 
read it at some time between October, 1885, and 
June, 1886. If you are in the class of 1888, you read 
it a year later, or during the first winter of your term 
whenever it may be. You ^^ill see, that, to rightly 
study the book, there will be experiments and obser- 
vations to be made. These you will find simple and 
easy, and most instructive. You cannot fail to learn 
something from every experiment ; and many of them 
are weU worth repeating many times, as an interesting 
accomplishment. 

Your examination-papers \\'ill be sent to you when 
you have finished the reading of the book. The ex- 
amination will include reports of the experiments ; and 
you will find it important to perform all the experi- 
ments, and make all the observations, in order to easily 
and happily pass the examination. 



PREFATORY NOTE. IX 

To assist those who cannot easily obtain the ther- 
mometer and rain-gauge needed for the experiments, a 
cheap kit containing a good thermometer, gauge, and 
measure, will be sent by mail, postage paid, from head- 
quarters, on the receipt of 85 cents ; this being a spe- 
cial rate for the members of the Club only. Members 
living in towns can form local circles, and use one 
glass and gauge by lending the apparatus to each mem- 
ber of the circle in turn. If you do not know of any 
members in your neighborhood, write to headquarters ; 
and the names of any others living near you will be 
sent to you, and you can join with them to form a 
circle. 

Trusting you will find the book of interest and value, 
and that you will perform the experiments with suc- 
cess, and thus take one more step towards winning 
your diploma at graduation- day, I am 

Sincerely your friend, 

CHARLES BARNARD, 
Superintendent of Instruction^ C. T, C. C. 



INTRODUCTION. 



There lived at one time a man, who, being in want, 
and having long waited for Fortune, concluded that 
he would go in search of her. So he took what little 
money he had saved, shut up his house, and set out 
upon his travels in search of Fortune. He journeyed 
on for many days, and made diligent inquiry of those 
he met as to where Fortune might be found. Some 
said she was in one place, and some were quite sure 
she was in another place. All were certain she did 
not dwell with them, and many said that perhaps she 
might be found a little farther on. Several even said 
that she had been with them but lately, and had just 
gone away to another place. After travelling many 
leagues, and spending all his money, he sadly returned 
to his own home, and there found Fortune seated on 
his doorstep, as if waiting his return. As he drew 
near, she rose quickly, and said, — 

" I have been waiting here for some time, in the hope 
that you would let me into your house. I have waited 
so long now, that I must go away to find others more 
ready to welcome me." 



Xll INTROD UC riON. 

With these words she wrapped her mantle about her, 
and went away ; and the man never saw her again. 

This is only a fable, a story told a long time ago. 
There is many a fable that contains a grain of wisdom 
in a pretty wrapping. This old story is as good to-day 
as when it was first told ; for it fits our times exactly, 
and is as wise to-day as ever. There are many people 
now, in town and country, who still think that Fortune 
must be living somewhere far away from their own 
homes ; and, if they only knew which way to go, they 
would start to find her. When this man started on his 
journey, the general opinion was, that Fortune could 
be found in many places, — in the country, along the 
seashore, and in the towns. Now people will tell you 
that Fortune can be found only in cities. 

Is this so ? Where does Fortune live ? Who knows 
how to find her? These are good questions, and well 
worth answering. In the first place, what do you 
mean by fortune ? In the fable, Fortune is represented 
as a woman. Fortune, as we understand it, means 
wealth, food, clothing, houses, books, pictures, and all 
good things. Any one who has them, we say, is fortu- 
nate. Fortune may mean money ; because money can 
be exchanged for food, clothing, shelter, and other 
good things. So it comes to this : Where can we go to 
get money? Where does wealth come from? Young 
men or women just starting in life see that many of 
those about them have money, and they wonder where 
they got it. If they ask others to give them money, 
every one says No. There does not seem to be any 



INTRODUCTION. Xlll 

money to spare. There must be new wealth some- 
where. The people who have it refuse to give it up, 
except for work or food or some other good thing ; 
and, at first, it seems as if all the wealth in the world 
had been already taken by some one, and there was 
none left for the young people. Does wealth grow in 
the cities ? It is often said that such an one went to 
town, and made a fortune. How did he do it? where 
did he find it? He made it in the city. That is all 
that they say about it. "All the wealth is in the 
cities. You must go to the cities to find it." So every 
year hundreds of young men and women start towards 
the cities, in the hope that in some fashion they may 
find a fortune. A few do find it, or, rather, are already 
rich enough to buy it ; but the others never find it, for 
the simple reason that they left it at home. 

It is a good and worthy question : Where does 
wealth come from? What is the source of wealth? 
It must come from some place. It is plain, many 
people have found it. There must have been a time 
when there was very little, or none at all. We know, 
that, when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, they 
brought very little with them, — only one small cargo 
to be divided among quite a large party. Now the 
Old Colony State is one of the richest in the Union. 
The settlers in all the colonies up and down the coast 
were poor people, and yet there are millions of wealth 
in the Atlantic States. California was once a poor 
place, without business or great cities or wealth : 
now it is a rich State. We are getting nearer to the 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

answer. The gold-mines. Plainly, California people 
have become rich because they dug gold out of the 
ground. In Pennsylvania, coal and iron are dug fr<5m 
the ground. Gold and iron and coal mean wealth. 
These hints point to the answer. 

Wealth comes out of the ground. The only source 
of new wealth is the sohd ground. But there are no 
gold or iron or coal mines in New England. Where 
did wealth come from there? Always from the 
ground. A portion also comes from the sea ; but this, 
in one sense, is a part of the ground. By the ground 
is meant the earth, the planet on which we live. 
The ground includes the thin layer of soil spread over 
the rocks that form the solid globe ; and the soil, 
though only a few inches deep, is the greatest source 
of wealth. Gold and silver, copper, iron, coal, dia- 
monds, and pearls represent only a very small part of 
the wealth of the people of this country. There is 
food of every variety, clothing, houses, furniture, wood, 
plants, seeds, and animals of every kind \ and these 
are also wealth. All of these come from the ground, 
and all from that part of the ground we call the soil. 
So it seems that the source of nearly all the wealth of 
the world is the soil. It is no wonder the man found 
Fortune at his door, when the chief source of fortune 
lay in the soil under his feet. This is the real mean- 
ing of the fable. Fortune does not reside far away 
in cities, but is everywhere under our feet, — on the 
farm, in the garden, on the mountains, on the prairies, 
in the valleys, in the streams, and in the great and 



INTRODUCTION. XV 

wide sea. There are only two places in the world 
where fortune cannot be found, — in the deserts, and 
in the streets of a city. 

We must all have food to eat, clothing to protect 
us from heat and cold, and a roof for shelter from 
storms. It is wise and proper to search for these 
things diligently, and, having obtained them, to look 
earnestly for those other good things, — books, music, 
pictures, the society of good and pleasant people, and 
the means to make others happy. If we have wealth, 
we can purchase all good things. It is wise and right, 
therefore, to search for wealth, and to seek its source. 



TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE GROUND THE SOURCE OF WEALTH. 

I. THE GREAT STAR. — Far away in the great 
spaces beyond the clouds and the sky, more than 
ninety miUions of miles from the place where we live, 
is a certain bright star. No man has been near it, 
no man is sure of what it is made. We only know 
it is of wondrous size, that it gives out light and 
heat, and that these things are of the utmost impor- 
tance to every creature living hefe. We go out of 
doors, and look off over these ninety million miles of 
space ; and its hght is so bright that we cannot look 
upon it for more than a second. We feel the heat of 
its blazing fires upon our hands and face. We say it 
is a great star, and we call it the sun. We see the 
sun rise, and observe that birds, insects, and animals 
awake from sleep. We look closer, and observe that 
the dull and insensible plants also stir in a dumb, 
blind way, and turn to the sun, spread out their leaves 
and open their flowers towards its light. We observe 



2 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

that even the fish in the water come nearer to the sur- 
face, as if to seek the hght. The dog and cat appear 
to enjoy the warmth of the sun, and will sit or lie for 
hours in the full light of this great star. If it is 
spring, we observe that the sun rises higher in the 
sky at every noon, and that both plants and animals 
appear to grow rapidly. In the fall, we observe that 
the light of this star grov/s less : it rises later, day 
by day, and all shadows at noon grow longer. Many 
plants and living creatures die ; while other plants 
lose their leaves, and appear to sleep. Some of the 
birds disappear, and others change their plumage ; 
and all animals are more warmly clad in fur and hair. 
Still later the light of the sun grows brighter, the days 
grow longer, and we say that the spring has returned. 
Again the plants revive ; many kinds of birds and in- 
sects re-appear ; flowers bloom and fruits ripen again. 
This observation plainly shows that this distant star 
we call the sun has an important influence over all 
plants and animals. 

II. THE SOURCE OF WEALTH. — When we say 
that a person has wealth, we mean that he has cer- 
tain valuable things, or that he has money with which 
he can buy these things. Now, these things may be 
land, or ships, houses, plants, seeds, animals, wood, 
fabrics, cotton, metals, minerals, or any thing else of 
value. If he has land, we say he has real property, 
or real estate. If he has any thing else, — plants, ani- 
mals, seeds, minerals, or aught else, — we say he has 
personal property. We look closer into this matter, 



THE SOURCE OE WEALTH. 3 

and observe that all the personal property came from 
the real property. 

Here is a man who owns some bales of cotton. 
They represent wealth. He can sell the cotton, and 
with the money buy food, clothing, or other things he 
may want. A few months ago he did not have this 
cotton. In fact, the cotton did not exist. Where, 
then, did he get it? All he had was some land and 
some seed. He put the seed in the ground ; and in 
time it sprang up, and grew to be a bush having flowers. 
In time the flowers went to seed ; and each seed 
appeared, wrapped in a lock of soft white cotton. The 
man gathered the seed and the cotton, separated one 
from the other, and put the cotton in bales. He now 
had new wealth, that a few months ago did not exist. 
He lost the seeds he placed in the ground, and he has 
now more seeds than before. Plainly, this new wealth 
represented by the seeds and cotton came from the 
ground. Another man has wheat or oats or barley, 
flax, potatoes, apples, or wood. He likewise had land, 
upon which grew the plants or trees from which these 
things came. They represent wealth, and all came 
directly from the ground. 

Another man may have coal or iron ; copper, silver, 
or other metals ; stone, bricks, clay, pottery, oil, and 
slates. These also represent wealth, and they too came 
from the ground. Just here we obser\'e a difference 
between these kinds of wealth. The man who dug 
the coal or copper or iron, or who quarried the slate 
and stones, or dug the clay ^vhich he used to make 



4 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

bricks and pottery, may dig at any time : but when all 
the slate and stone are taken from the quarry, all the 
metals raised from the mine, all the oil pumped from 
the well, all the clay removed from the clay-pit, there 
is an end of the wealth ; and, to find more, he must 
sink new wells and mines, and make new pits and 
quarries, in other places. On the other hand, the man 
who planted the seed, and raised from the ground 
wheat and flax, cotton, fruit, and roots, may do this 
continually on the same spot, or at least in the same 
farm, year after year. In this way he goes on making 
new wealth year by year ; while the man who digs 
wealth from the rocks and hills may come to an end 
of his wealth, and have to look for it in another place. 
We shall observe, presently, when we come to examine 
this matter more closely, that this difference is caused 
in part by that great star we call the sim. 

Another man has a flock of sheep ; and in summer 
he cuts off their wool, which represents so much wealth. 
Here is a man who has a herd of cows that every day 
give him many quarts of milk, which he may sell for 
money. These men, at first, seem to have quite an- 
other method of getting wealth ; but, if we observe the 
sheep and cows, we see that they must have grass and 
other plants to eat ; and these come from the ground. 
So it is plain that the milk and wool also come in- 
directly from the soil. In this manner another class of 
things that may represent wealth comes indirectly from 
the ground. Among these we may include eggs, fowls, 
horses, sheep, cattle, pigs, leather, skins, butter, cheese, 
and many other tilings. 



THE SOURCE OF WEAL TIL 5 

Another man has a boat-load of fresh fish. A few 
hours ago he had only a boat and a net. Where did 
this wealth that lies in the bottom of the boat come 
from? It also came indirectly from the ground, for 
many of these fish fed upon the water-plants that grow 
along the shore beneath the water. 

III. THE GREAT INDUSTRIES. — Having ob- 
ser\'ed that all this new wealth comes directly from 
real property, or from the ground, or the water, we see 
that it can be easily divided into three great classes. 
There are the minerals, the metals, the clays and 
stones, in one group ; there are all the various fish in 
another group ; there are the plants that grow in the 
ground, and the animals that feed upon these plants, 
and all the things obtained from these plants and ani- 
mals. In like manner we may divide the men who 
obtain these things. There are the miners, whose 
work, under the general name of mining, may include 
the getting of minerals, metals, stones, and clay ; 
there are the fishermen ; and lastly, the plant-growers 
and animal-raisers, whom we call farmers, and whose 
work is included under the general name of farming. 
It is this that we are now to observe and study. We 
have already observed that the wealth obtained in agri- 
culture comes first from the plants, and secondly from 
living creatures who feed upon plants. These plants 
come from the soil ; but the moment we observe a liv- 
ing plant, we see that there are many things that affect 
the life of the plant. There is the rain, the wind, the 
air, the character of the soil, the seasons, and, most 



6 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

important of all, the sun. We must therefore, first of 
all, observe this great star closely, to find out in what 
way it affects the life and growth of plants. Our first 
work must therefore be a careful observation of the 
sun. 



THE SUN AND THE EARTH. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SUN AND THE EARTH. 

IV. THEIR MOTION'S. — As soon as we begin to 
observe the sun, we find that it is subject to continual 
change. Select some clear evening, and a place where 
you can see the sun go down behind the hills and 
buildings, and make a note of, or try to remember, the 
precise spot where it disappeared. Do this every 
clear evening for two weeks. By the end of this time 
you will observe that the sun sets in a different place, 
to the right or left of the spot noted when the observa- 
tions began. If the sunrise is observed, the place of 
rising will appear also to move to the right or left. 
Look at the clock when making each of these obser- 
vations, and you will find that the sun also rises or sets 
a moment or so earlier or later each day. 

Find some room where the shadow of the window- 
frame or the sash falls on the floor at exactly twelve 
o'clock in summer or winter, and make a mark on the 
floor. Six months later, examine the same shadow 
again at noon ; and you will find it has moved, become 
shorter or longer. Another method of making this 
observation is, to take a strip of board a few inches 
wide and two feet long, and to set up at one end a 



8 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

thin stick twelve inches long. Place this in the sun, 
at noon, on the first day of any month, and in such 
a position that the shadow of the stick will fall on the 
board. Measure the length of the shadow every day 
at noon for a month, or every day when the sun shines ; 
and you will observe that the shadow slowly but 
steadily increases or diminishes day by day. If this 
experiment is tried in winter, the shadow will be 
shortest about the 21st of December; and, if tried in 
summer, the shadow will be longest about the 21st of 
June j and it will be travelling, between these dates, 
either one way or the other. 

These observations prove to us that this great star 
is continually changing its path in the sky. When 
men first made these observations, they supposed that 
the sun actually moved across the sky, and that each 
day it took a new path, and that this caused these 
changes in the time and place of its rising and setting, 
and these changes in the length of shadows at noon. 
We now know that this travelling of the sun across the 
sky is only apparent. It seems to rise towards the high- 
est point in the sky, it appears to have these varied 
paths, and it appears to go down in the west ; yet it is 
really the earth on which we live that moves, and to 
its movements all these changes are due. We need 
not stop now to consider all this, because we wish only 
to observe the effects of these apparent changes in the 
sun, upon living plants and animals. It is sufficient to 
know that the earth turns round once in twenty-four 
hours, and presents different sides of the planet to 



THE SUN AND THE EARTH. 9 

the sun in turn. The sun has its own motion upon its 
axis ; but, as all sides are equally bright, this practically 
makes no difference in our observations, and we have 
only to observe now the effect of this turning of the 
earth every twenty-four hours. This motion of the 
planet divides the time into intervals of alternate light 
and darkness. If we are at any particular spot on the 
surface of the planet, it turns round, and brings us into 
the light j turns steadily on, and in time turns us away 
again into its own dark shadow. This motion gives 
us alternate light and darkness, day and night. The 
earth has also another motion. It moves around the 
sun once in a year, and, in sweeping over tliis great 
path, presents a different aspect to the sun, giving one 
portion a little more sunshine, and another portion a 
little less sunshine, at different times in the year. It 
is this motion that causes the changes in the shadows 
from month to month, and divides the vear into sea- 
sons, — spring, summer, autumn, and winter. 

V. DAY AND NIGHT. — We have observed that 
the time is divided, by the motion of the earth, into 
periods of light and darkness, day or night. Let us 
see what is the effect of day and night upon plants. 
We cannot try the experiment of placing a plant in 
the sun for twenty-four hours or longer ; so, to study 
this matter, we must reverse the experiment, and see 
what would be the effect of taking away the sun for 
twenty-four hours or even longer. Take a healthy 
plant growing in a flower-pot, and place it in a dark 
closet. Give it water, and see that the closet is kept 



lO TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

warm. In a few days it appears to be injured. It 
turns white ; and, if we leave it in the dark too long, it 
dies. It carried back to the sunlight, its blanched 
leaves quickly turn green ; and, unless it has been kept 
too long in the dark, it will recover its health. In 
March or April we may sometimes find in a dark cel- 
lar an onion that has begun to grow, and has sent out 
slender white leaves. If left in the dark, it presently 
dies. Place it in a dish of water in a sunny window, 
and its blanched leaves soon turn green, and it begins 
to grow rapidly. These things show us that light is 
essential to the life and growth of plants. Naturally 
we might ask why it is not always day, why the sun 
does not always shine. 

This leads us to quite another matter. A plant has 
life. It grows and lives ; and, as we know of our own 
experience, all that lives has its periods of activity and 
rest, its times for growth and work and its times for 
rest and sleep. The time for growth and work is by 
day ; for rest, by night. So it appears that this daily 
motion of our planet divides the perpetual light that 
streams from the sun, into nearly equal portions, leav- 
ing a space of darkness while half the earth rests in 
shadow, and thus maintains all plant and animal life 
in health and vigor. Outside of our earth it is always 
day ; but, by the motion of the earth, every part of the 
earth once a day slides through the deep shadow of 
the planet. 

We may observe one thing more in relation to this 
motion of the earth that gives us alternate day and 



THE SUN AND THE EARTH II 

night. Plants and animals appear to wake from sleep 
as soon as it begins to be light in the morning, and to 
sleep again as soon as the sun disappears. They seem 
to wish to make the most of the daylight, and to sleep 
early to prepare for an early waking. So we find that 
those plants that have the full sun all day are more 
healthy and thrifty than those that receive the sun for 
only a part of the day. Plants in the shadow of a tree 
or house are less vigorous than those in the full sun all 
day. We must notice just here, that some plants pre- 
fer the shade, as the lily of the valley ; but these are 
merely exceptions to the general law that all plants 
prefer the full sun, and for as long a time in the day 
as possible. This observation becomes of the utmost 
value when we wish to select a place for a garden, or 
a spot for a plant-house, or when we wish to choose a 
window for growing plants. This position of a plant 
or tree in regard to the sun, and the number of hours 
in the day in which it shall receive the sunshine, is 
called the aspect, or exposure. There are as many 
aspects as the points of the compass, and a very little 
observation will show that there is a difference in the 
value of these aspects. The aspect of any place is 
its relation to the sun ; a south aspect being towards 
the south, or facing the sun at noon. The aspects 
stand in point of value in this order : south, south- 
east, south-west, east, west, north-east, north-west, 
north. A plant with a south exposure receives the 
sun all day, from its rising to its setting. A plant 
with a south-east aspect has it all day, except at 



12 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

the very end of the day. Here another curious thing 
appears. It seems to be the result of many observa- 
tions made at different times by different people, that 
the morning sunlight is more beneficial to a plant than 
the afternoon sunlight. In the morning the plant, 
like the animal, is refreshed by rest, and is active and 
vigorous. In the afternoon it is already preparing 
for rest. Its force is partly spent, and the sunlight 
appears to have less effect upon it. So we find that 
next to the south aspect is the east aspect. South- 
east is between the two. South-west is next in value ; 
and if the plant is to be shaded from the sun at 
either end of the day, it will be best to face the east. 
North, north-east, and north-west aspects are to be 
avoided, as the least sun is received ; and the north- 
ern side of a building in the shade is wholly unsuited 
for the growth of plants. Such an aspect is useful 
only when we wish plants to rest, and to merely live 
without growing. 

VI. THE SEASONS. — Our observations have 
shown us that the position of the sun at noon, the 
hour of sunrise and sunset, and the length of the day, 
are continually changing. These changes are the 
result of the yearly motion of the earth ; and this 
motion, like the daily motion, has a visible effect upon 
the life and growth of all plants. These slow changes 
in the apparent path oi the sun in the sky mark the 
changes of the seasons. Oui observations of the sun 
will show us that one-half the year the days are grow- 
ing longer, and the other half they are growing shorter. 



THE SUN AND THE EARTH. 1 3 

Looking at plants out of doors, we observe that all are 
growing rapidly while the days are increasing in length, 
and that they grow less rapidly, or cease to grow at 
all, during that part of the year when the days are 
decreasing in length. These observations show that 
this motion of the earth, governing the length of the 
day, and the amount of sunlight, also indirectly gov- 
erns the growth of plants. These facts, obtained from 
observations of the sun and earth, make the founda- 
tions of all work with plants and animals. They gov- 
ern the work of raising and caring for plants ; and, as 
plants form one of the great sources of wealth, we see 
that the relations of the great star that gives us light, 
to the planet on which we live, directly control the 
production of wealth. These motions mark the days 
and the seasons, and all work in agriculture must be 
governed by the changing seasons and the alternat- 
ing days and nights. 

Vll. THE HEAT OF THE SUN. — So far we have 
observed the sun only as a source of light, and the 
motions of the earth as dividing the amount of light 
into unequal portions according to the seasons. We 
may now consider the heat of the sun as separate from 
its light. A little consideration will show that we have 
found that the heat of the sun is greater in summer 
than in winter, that it is much greater on certain days 
in any season than other days perhaps in the same 
week. The amount of heat given by the sun varies 
continually every day, and from hour to hour during 
the day. It is less at early morning than at noon, 



14 TALKS ABOUT THE IVEATIJER. 

increasing steadily from sunrise till about three o'clock 
in the afternoon, when it begins to rapidly diminish. 
Though the heat of the sun appears to vary from day 
to day, it steadily increases through the spring, and 
diminishes through the fall. It has been found that 
plants growing in spring demand more and more heat, 
and in the fall require less and less heat ; and this 
corresponds precisely to the changes in the heat of 
the sun during these seasons. A plant is more active 
in the morning, and the heat increases. It is ex- 
hausted and inclined to rest towards night, and the 
heat diminishes. It demands more and more heat 
while growing in spring, and the heat increases as the 
season adv-ances. It requires less and less heat as it 
ceases to grow, and prepares for its long rest in winter ; 
and the heat steadily diminishes through the fall. 

VIII. THE CHEMICAL EFFECT OF SUN- 
LIGHT. — There is besides the hght from the sun, 
besides the heat that accompanies the light, another 
feature of sunlight that materially affects the life and 
health of all plants. This is called the chemical effect 
of light. It is not so evident, at first sight, as the effect 
of light or heat ; yet it is plainly shown in the experi- 
ment we tried with the onion. In the dark cellar, the 
onion sent out its shoots quite blanched and white. 
When it was brought into the sunlight, the leaves 
turned green. They also became tougher and stronger. 
This changing of the color of a plant illustrates the 
chemical effects of the light ; and it is quite different 
from the heat of sunlight and the actual light, because 



THE SUN AND THE EARTH. 1 5 

it has been found, in certain experiments with hght, 
that rays from the sun that are cold, or quite dark, 
still produce chemical effects. The fading of colors 
in cloths kept in the sunlight is a chemical effect of 
light. The art of photography is founded wholly on 
the chemical effects of light. In plants this chemical 
effect of light is made of use by causing plants to grow 
in the shade or in total darkness, or in causing one 
part of a plant to be in sunshine and another part in 
the dark. This is shown in the cabbage and lettuce 
plants. The habit of these plants is to curl their 
leaves inward, one over the other, and to cover the 
centre of the plant. The centre, growing in the dark, 
then becomes white, brittle, and succulent, making it 
fit to be eaten raw. Celery (and sometimes rhubarb) 
is also treated in this way : the stems of the plants are 
shaded or covered ; and, in growing, they remain white 
and brittle, and have a flavor they would not give if 
left to grow in the full sunshine. The colors of flowers 
and fruit also result from the chemical rays from the 
sun. The colors may also be caused in part by the 
heat of the sun. How far the chemical rays color 
the rose and apple, we cannot tefl : yet we must recog- 
nize that all plants grown in the dark are white and 
colorless ; and the same thing undoubtedly applies to 
the flowers and fruits. At the same time it must be 
observed, that fruits are highly colored while growing 
in partial shade, provided the leaves of the plant are 
in the sun. This is shown in the grape-vine, particu- 
larly when under glass. 



l6 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ATMOSPHERE. 

IX. THE ATMOSPHERE. — One of the first 
things we notice in making these observations of the 
heat and hght of the sun, is that they both vary- 
greatly from hour to hour through the day. We 
observe that the heat and hght do not increase or 
decrease together. We find cold bright days in winter, 
and warm dark days in summer. The amount of light 
may remain the same all day, and yet the heat of the 
sun will appear to change greatly. Besides this we 
find that the heat changes during the night ; some- 
times increasing, and sometimes diminishing, while it 
is quite dark. 

X. THE THERMOMETER. — So far we have made 
our observations without the aid of any instmments, 
except a clock to observe the time of sunrise and sun- 
set. We must now make more careful and accurate 
observations ; and, in order to study the sun and its 
effects upon plants, we need a thermometer. A good 
thermometer can be bought for fifty cents, and a fair 
one for about thirty-five cents. The best plan is to 
get as good a one as can be afforded. The better the 
tools, the better the work. We are now approaching 



THE ATMOSPHERE. I J 

the study of science as applied to plants and animals, 
and we shall find that at the very foundation of suc- 
cessful work in the care of plants and animals is the 
habit of close and accurate observation. One of the 
most important things to observe is the temperature. 
By this is meant the temperature of the air. To take 
up this study, we must have a thermometer ; and this 
should now be procured. Choose a metal thermom- 
eter, or one on which the figures are marked on metal, 
and not on wood or paper, or, better still, one marked 
on the glass tube. All the references to the ther- 
mometer here mean one marked on the Fahrenheit 
scale, and all references mean this scale ; as, seventy- 
five means seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit, or seventy- 
five Fahrenheit. 

XL THE TEMPERATURE. — Place the glass (by 
which is now always meant the thermometer) in the 
full sun in a window. It will rise rapidly, and touch 
(in April) ioo°. Now open the window, and put the 
glass in the full sunlight. At once it begins to fall, 
and, in a few minutes, sinks to 82° or thereabouts. 
Here is a difference between the outside and inside of a 
window, in the full sun, of eighteen degrees. Clearly, 
there is no difference in the sunlight in this time. The 
heat of the sun's rays have not fallen so much in such 
a short time. We must look elsewhere to find the 
cause of this remarkable change in the glass. This 
difference between the height of the glass in the house 
and out of dooi*s depends upon the air. The atmos- 
phere- surrounds the whole earth, and all plants and 



1 8 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

animals on its surface live in it. The air is easily 
warmed by heat from a fire or from the sun. It will 
also easily part with its heat, as is shown by the rapid 
cooling of the air at night, or when the sun is obscured 
by a cloud. Now, in considering these matters, we 
will hereafter understand that the temperature means 
the heat of the air at any time. A high temperature 
means that the air is warm : a low temperature means 
that the air is cold. To find the temperature at any 
time, we must place the glass out of doors, not in the 
sun (which would give the heat of the sun's rays), but 
in the shade ; and the glass will indicate the tempera- 
ture of the air close about it, or very nearly the general 
temperature of the atmosphere near it. It will indi- 
cate the amount of heat taken up by the air at that 
time. 

XII. THE REFLECTION OF HEAT: ITS AB- 
SORPTION BY THE AIR. — The sun's rays pass- 
ing through the air strike upon the ground, the water, 
the rocks, grass, buildings, or other objects, and they 
become heated ; and this heat is in turn imparted 
or reflected into the air, raising its temperature. 
Place the glass in the shade of a board, a tree, or 
other object casting a small shadow, and close to the 
south side of a board fence, wall, or building. Ob- 
serve the temperature : then carry the glass a short 
distance to an open field or yard, and again place it 
in the shade of some small object. A decided fall in 
the glass will be obser\^ed. This observation clearly 
shows that the temperature is higher near the sunny 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 1 9 

wall or building. The air is warmed by the reflected 
heat from the building, fence, or wall. There being 
less reflection from the level ground in the open field, 
the temperature is less. 

Another important element must here be considered. 
The air next the building may be quiet and at rest. 
In the field it may be steadily moving away. Get a 
small wooden box without a cover. Place it in the 
sunlight out of doors. Put the thermometer inside, at 
the front, in the shade of the side of the box. Now 
cover the top of the box with a sheet of glass or oiled 
paper, or even thin cotton cloth. Look at the glass 
when the experiment begins, to see the temperature 
outside the box and inside the box. Let the box rest 
in the sun for twenty minutes, and then look at the 
glass. The inside of the box will be quite warm, and 
the glass will indicate a decided rise in the tempera- 
ture. This experiment can also be performed by 
placing the glass (in the shade) in a cold-frame (not 
a hot-bed) or in a greenhouse, or in a sunny room 
where there is no fire. In each case the temperature 
is higher than out of doors at the same time. This 
experiment serves to show, that if a body of air is kept 
at rest, by confinement in a box, or frame, or building 
having glass sides or windows, it will take up more and 
more heat as long as the sunlight lasts. Take off" the 
cover of the box or the frame, open the doors and 
windows of the house, and leave the air free to move 
away ; and the air inside will no longer increase in 
temperature. This partly explains why the tempera- 



20 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

tnre is higher on the south side of a building when 
the wind is north. The building prevents the air from 
moving away ; and it takes up more and more heat, 
reflected from the walls warmed by the sun. This 
also explains our experiment with the glass in the sun, 
inside and outside the window. 

XIII. "FORWARDING." — These observations lead 
to important and valuable information in regard to the 
care of plants and animals. It may seem of little use 
to go about with a thermometer, testing the tempera- 
ture of the air in these difterent places. Experiments 
often seem of no value, because we do not know how 
to use what the experiments show. If some one tells 
us how to have green pease or rhubarb a week before 
our neighbors, we call him a very smart gardener, and 
perhaps wonder where lie learned such a valuable 
secret. If some one else tells us how he succeeds in 
having such thrifty chickens so early in the season, or 
how it happens his cows look so well, and give so much 
milk, we regard the man as a good farmer or poultry- 
man, and wonder where he learned so much about 
such matters. This art of raising early vegetables and 
flowers is called by the gardeners " forwarding." We 
say the gardener knows how to " forward," or hurry 
up, his crops, and cause them to be ready for use early 
in the spring or summer. At the same time our ex- 
periments have been telling us the very secret of '' for- 
warding " plants, and having healthy and profitable 
cows and poultry. If we have found, that, on the south 
side of a fence or building, the temperature is higher 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 21 

than in an open field, clearly such a place must be 
best for early plants like peas, lettuce, or rhubarb, or 
early flowers like the snowdrop, hyacinth, or jonquil. 
Our experiments have shown that the temperature is 
raised by reflection from a wall or building, and by 
the shelter from the wind. The air being kept in one 
place stores up the heat : the ground also becomes 
warmer, because the air above it is not continually mov- 
ing away, and carrying off the heat imparted by the 
sun. In the frame, or the greenhouse, or sunny room, 
early plants like tomatoes, lettuce, cabbages, and many 
kinds of flowering plants, can be made to grow in the 
heat stored up by the air confined in such places. So 
it comes, that, by the intelligent use of the facts we 
discovered in our experiments, we learn to hasten, 
or " forward," our plants. Our experiments tell the 
gardener's secret. He, and his fathers before him, 
found these things out after many long years of trial 
with diff'erent plants in different places. We learn the 
secret in an hour, by a simple experiment with a ther- 
mometer, added to a little common-sense to make our 
science useful. Perhaps v/e see now why the farmer 
puts his cows out in the sunny yard in winter, where 
they will be warmed by the sunlight, and yet protected 
from the wind by a shed or building that serves to 
keep the air from moving, and allows it to become 
heated. If he had driven his cows out into an open 
field, he would soon find that it made a wonderful dif- 
ference in their health, and consequently in their supply 
of good milk. We see now why the good poultry-man 



22 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

has large windows on the south side of his buildings. 
The cold-grapery and the cold-frame, a hillside, a 
fence, or even boards set up on edge behind a row 
of pease, all serve to raise the temperature, partly by 
reflection of the heat of the sun, and partly by con- 
fining the air and causing it to store up the heat ; and 
all are used to hasten, or " forward," plants and flowers, 
and to add to the health and comfort of birds and 
animals. 

XIV. THE WIND. — Get a stout pole eight or ten 
feet long (a hop or bean pole), and set it up firmly in 
the ground in a field, or in some open place away 
from buildings. Find the points of the compass at 
the pole, and place on the ground white stones or 
wooden stakes, or something else that will show the 
points of the compass easily. To the top of the pole 
tie a strip of light white muslin or cotton, about a yard 
long. Drive a nail in the pole, on which the thermom- 
eter can be himg, where it can be easily seen. Hang 
up the glass on the pole every night at sundown, for 
not less than fourteen consecutive nights. At nine 
o'clock go to the pole with a lantern (in all weathers, 
rain or shine) , and find out, from the flag or streamer, 
the direction of the wind, and, at the same time, the 
height of the glass. Make a record of the direction 
of the wind, — whether it is east, north, west, or south, 
or north-east, south-east, north-west, or south-west, — 
and the height of the glass, as soon as you return to 
the house. If not convenient to do this, hang the 
glass outside the window, where it can be easily seen 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 2$ 

by taking a lamp to the window. Observe by a 
weather-vane the direction of the wind at dusk, or 
as late in the twilight as possible. Observe the height 
of the glass at nine o'clock, taking pains to open the 
window to see by the air stirring that the wind has 
not changed since dark. (This will seldom occur.) 
Make a record of the wind and the glass every night, 
for fourteen consecutive nights. If the glass is used 
on the pole in a field, take it in after the observation 
has been made. 

Before making these observations, notice the con- 
ditions of our work. The sun has gone, and its heat 
does not directly affect our thermometer. To prove 
this, we have only to look at the glass just before sun- 
set, and again at nine o'clock ; and we shall find that 
sometimes it falls many degrees, while at other times 
it stands quite still, or sinks only one or two degrees. 
It may even rise, and be higher at nine o'clock at 
night than at any time during the previous day when 
the sun was shining. There is evidently some other 
cause affecting the glass. This we wish to find out. 
Notice one thing more. The atmosphere is seldom 
at rest. It is rarely perfectly calm ; and this motion, 
which we call the wind, tends to move all the air away, 
so that really our glass out on the pole is constantly 
subjected to fresh currents of air that come to it from 
every direction. It is precisely as if it stood in a 
river of air that is continually flowing past. The di- 
rection /;'^;;2 which the whole mass of the atmosphere 
seems to reach the glass, we call the direction of the 



24 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

wind. If it comes from the south, we call it a south 
wind ; from the north, a north wind, and so on : and, 
in taking an observation of the wind with the pennant 
on the pole, the head, or end of the pennant next the 
pole, points to the point of compass that gives a name 
to the wind. In other words, our streamer, like the 
tail-end of a weather-vane, points away from the wind ; 
and, if this is east, the wind is west, and so on. 

Having noticed these things, we begin our observa- 
tions, and keep them up for not less than fourteen 
consecutive nights, making a record of the wind and 
the height of the glass each time. At the end of our 
observations we will study our record to see what we 
may learn from it. 

To assist in understanding this matter, here is an 
actual record of the wind, and the height of the ther- 
mometer, taken at nine p.m. at Houghton Farm, for the 
first fourteen days in May, 1885 : — 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 



25 



Date. 


Tempera- 
ture. 


Direction of 
Wind, 


Amount of Wind. 


I 


41 


N.E. 


Moderate. 


2 


43 


N. 


Moderate. 


3 


40 


E. 


Very light. 


4 


44 


W. 


Very light. 


5 


50 


S. 


Strong. 


6 


50 


N. 


Moderate. 


7 


51 


Calm. 


Calm. 


8 


42 


N. 


Moderate. 


9 


43 


S.E. 


Light. 


10 


48 


Calm. 


Calm. 


II 


44 


S.W. 


Light. 


12 


53 


S.W. 


Moderate. 


13 


51 


N.E. 


Very light. 


14 


58 


W. 


Moderate. 



26 



TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 



Report of Wind, Temperature, and Clouds, taken ai 
9 P.M. AT Houghton Farm, in February, 1885. 



Date. 


Tempera- 
ture. 


Wind. 


Amount. 


Clouds. 


I 


17 


N.W. 


Moderate. 


Clear. 


2 


6 


N.E. 


Very light. 


Fair. 


3 


15 


N.E. 


Very light. 


Cloudy. 


4 


26 


Calm. 


Calm. 


Cloudy. 


5 


24 


N. 


Very light. 


Cloudy. 


6 


6 


N.E. 


Very light. 


Clear. 


7 


6 


N. 


Very light. 


Clear. 


8 


16 


N. 


Very light. 


Clear. 


9 


35 


S.E. 


Moderate. 


Cloudy. 


10 


13 


N. 


Very light. 


Clear. 


II 


2 


S.W. 


Moderate. 


Clear. 


12 


18 


s.w. 


Moderate. 


Clear. 


13 


12 


N.E. 


Very light. 


Cloudy. 


14 


17 


Calm. 


Calm. 


Clear. 



In this report, the state of the clouds is added to 
ilkistrate another matter later on. Taking the first 
report, we find the first four days with very little 
change ; the winds being northerly, the highest tem- 
perature being with a west wind. On the fifth day a 
strong south wind raises the temperature at once. It 
remains high with a north wind on the following nights ; 
but the wind is moderate, or it is calm, till the eighth 
day, when it falls again ; and it is not till the ninth that 
the temperature decidedly rises with south-east wind. 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 2/ 

The tenth is calm ; and on the eleventh and twelfth 
the south wind again blows, and the temperature rises, 
and remains high, though slightly depressed with the 
north-east wind on the thirteenth, the west wind send- 
ing it up again. At first there appear to be contradic- 
tions in this record. It is just as warm on the sixth with 
a north wind, as on the night before ; but it will be ob- 
served that the north wind is light, while the south 
wind was strong. The temperature was raised by the 
strong south wind, and it did not fall under the influ- 
ence of the moderate north wind. On the eighth, 
after the calm of the night before, it falls decidedly. 

In the February report, though it is winter, the 
changes in temperature are even more marked. There 
is an apparent contradiction in this report when we 
see the fall in temperature on the nth of the month. 
There may have been other circumstances, of which we 
have no knowledge, that caused this ; but we see, that, 
on the 1 2th, there is a rise in temperature with the 
same wind. Study this report carefully, and it will be 
seen that there are changes in the temperature, ap- 
parently caused by something independent of the im- 
mediate and direct heat of the sun ; for, when these 
observations were made, the sun had been absent for 
several hours. This will be made clearer later in this 
chapter. Observe also, that, when it is calm, there is 
a decided rise in the temperature. This we will also 
consider another time. 

XV. AIR EXPANDED BY HEAT. — Take a ther- 
mometer into a room lighted by gas or other lamps, 



28 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

and place it on the floor, leaning against the wall or 
furniture. Let it rest a few moments, and then make a 
note of the temperature. Now hang the glass on the 
cornice at the very top of the room (not over a lamp 
or near an open window), and, after a few moments' 
rest, examine it again. It will be found much higher 
now. Plainly, it is warmer at the top of the room than 
at the bottom. We must find a reason for this. 

The lamps (and fire, if there is one) give out heat. 
We might imagine that the heat, for some reason, went 
to the top of the room, leaving the lower part cool. 
There is plainly more heat next the ceiling than next 
the floor. We must look to the air for an explanation 
of this matter. The eff"ect of heat upon air is to cause 
it to expand. Hot air requires more room than cold 
air. This is shown in the old experiment of filling a 
bladder with air, and placing it before a fire. If air 
expands when heated, and requires more space, it 
plainly must find more room somewhere ; and the 
easiest way to get more room is to move upward. It 
cannot go downward ; because it meets the floor of the 
room, or, out of doors, the solid ground. It therefore 
rises, because it meets with the least resistance in that 
direction. The air heated by the lamps expands, and 
rises to the top of the room. If the room were air- 
tight, it would press against the walls in every direction, 
and try to get out. If heated enough, it would finally 
tear the walls apart in its eflbrt to find more space : 
this we should call an explosion. However, this rarely 
happens ; because the walls are never air-tight, and 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 29 

the pressure is relieved by the escape of a part of the 
expanded air through the cracks in the windows, or 
up the chimney. Out of doors this takes place on a 
much larger scale. We make a bonfire in the open 
air, and we see the smoke rising rapidly. The smoke 
is really heavy, but is carried upward by the expand- 
ing air swelling and increasing in the heat of the fire, 
and rushing upward to find room to expand, taking 
the smoke with it. The smoke of itself would not 
rise ; and, as soon as it escapes from the heated and 
expanded air, it will fall. This you can prove by 
placing a bit of paper in a strong glass bottle, setting 
fire to the paper, and quickly corking the bottle. In 
a few moments the smoke that fills the bottle will be 
cold ; and then, if you turn the bottle over, you will see 
the smoke fall slowly down, thus plainly showing that 
it has weight, and is heavier than the air in the bottle. 
XVI. THE -WINDS CAUSED BY THE SUN. — 
Now, the sun is a great fire heating the air that sur- 
rounds the earth. The air warmed by the sun expands, 
and, wanting more room, rises towards the upper part 
of the atmosphere. Observe another curious thing. 
If air expands and rises when heated, it moves away ; 
and any person who did not think might fancy that 
it would leave a hole, or empty space, behind it. This 
does not happen ; because the air on every side is free 
to move, and it quickly rushes in to fill up the space 
occupied by the air that has ascended. This is shown 
by the two currents of air found at a window that is 
open an inch or two at top and bottom, in a warm 



30 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

room, on a calm, cold day. The warm air is flowing 
out at the top of the window to find more room to ex- 
pand ; and the cold air is flowing in below to fill up the 
space occupied by the heated and expanded air that 
has risen to the top of the room, and out the top of 
the window. This is often plainly shown by opening 
a window at top and bottom when the air in the 
room is full of smoke. The sun shining on the earth 
warms the air, and it rises ; and at once colder air flows 
in to take the place of the warm air that has moved 
upward. We thus see the heat of the sun causes the 
air to move not only upward, but to flow horizontally 
along the surface of the land or water to fill up the 
space left by the heated air. This movement of the 
air we call the wind, and we see that the sun is 
the immediate cause of those movements of the air 
that we call the winds. Every wind that blows, be it 
a gentle breeze, a fresh gale, a high wind, cyclone, or 
hurricane, is caused by the sun. High or low, warm 
wind or cold wind, east wind, south wind, — all are 
moved by the sun. In making our observations of 
the wind, we find it blows in many directions, and that 
these directions often change. This is an important 
matter ; but, for our studies of plant and animal life, it 
is sufficient to group them all into two classes, — the 
warm winds and the cold winds. 

XVII. THE TWO GREAT WINDS. —The great 
star on which we live presents one portion to the sun 
much more than other portions. The central part, in 
a belt along the equator, receives more heat than those 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 3 I 

two portions about the two poles. The result is, that 
the air at the equator, or in the tropics, is heated more 
than at the poles. It is warmed by the sun, expands, 
rises, and, wanting more space, moves away towards 
either pole. At the same time the colder air about 
the poles, feeling the general pressure relieved by the 
escape of the warm torrid air, flows towards the equa- 
tor to take its place. So in this country, in North 
America, we find two great winds, — a warm wind mov- 
ing from the equator, north, towards the polar lands 
and seas, and a cold polar wind travelling due south 
towards the tropics. Usually the warmer tropic wind 
is highest, and flows over the colder polar wind ; the 
cold wind next the ground, and the warm wind per- 
haps miles above it among the clouds. 

It is true, there are as many winds as there are 
points to the compass : it is true, there are times when 
all winds are cold, and other times when they all seem 
warm. This great variety of winds felt at any one 
place is due to several causes. The two great winds 
may meet, and unite to give rise to a wind of another 
direction. Bodies of water, like our sounds and lakes, 
may affect the direction and temperature of winds. 
Ranges of mountains may turn the winds aside, and 
give them a new direction. Circular storms and 
small local storms may also create local currents of 
air. We must look at this matter in a general way, 
and study the winds as affecting the whole country. 
We wish to consider the wind solely as affecting tem- 
perature ; and with a little study we shall see, that, in 



32 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

this view of the winds, there are only two, — the warm 
wind from the south, and the cold wind from the north. 
We can divide the winds into two groups, the warm 
winds and the cold winds ; and one group is plainly- 
southerly, and the other as plainly northerly. The 
warm winds extend from south-east to west. The cold 
winds extend from north-west to east. All between 
south-east and west, inclusive, are warmer than all or 
any of those between north-west and east. Turn 
again to the two reports of temperature in paragraph 
XIV., and study the temperatures while these different 
winds blow, and it will be seen, that, in a general way, 
these facts hold true, and that we have two groups of 
winds, — the warm southerly, and the cold northerly. 

XVIII. SHELTER FROM WINDS. — We have 
already learned that the air is warmer near a building 
than in an open field. We found the sun warmed the 
air more rapidly when the air was confined, as in a 
sunny room, or in a cold-frame or greenhouse. We 
found it warmer on a sunny day, on the south side of 
a building or fence, than in an open field. We can 
now understand why the south side of such a fence 
or building may also be warmer even in the night, 
or on a cloudy day, when there is no heat from the 
sun. If the southerly winds, warmed in the tropics, 
are warmer than those from the regions round the 
north pole, clearly the south side of a fence or build- 
ing will, in the long-run, be warmer than the north 
side of the same fence or building ; perhaps not at any 
one time in the night, or upon a cloudy day. Vv^e 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 33 

may make observations on both sides at the same 
time, as on a warm, moist day or night in the spring, 
or on a very cold night in January, and find the glass 
just the same on each side. We must consider this 
matter as spread over a month or a year. If we made 
observations of the temperature on each side of the 
building, or on the south side of the building and in 
an open field, every night for a year, we should find 
that there would be more days or nights when the 
glass was higher on the south side, than days or nights 
when it was the same on both sides, or on the north 
side and the open field. Again study the reports in 
paragraph XIV. Observe that on the calm nights it 
is always warmer. This state of rest, or calm, is prac- 
tically the same as a shelter. A fence shelters the 
ground, and makes a little calm near the fence ; and 
the heat accumulates, and the temperature rises. It 
is the same in a calm. 

XIX. RADIATION OF HEAT FROM THE 
GROUND. — This is a curious matter, and we must 
look about to see if we can find a reason for it. Go 
out in the night, when there is a fresh wind from the 
north or north-west. The wind feels cool upon the 
hands and face ; and, if it is winter, it may be uncom- 
fortably cold. Stand in the full wind for a moment. 
The air is cold, and as it moves past feels colder and 
colder. Now go behind a tight board fence, or some 
building out of the wind. It feels more comfortable 
here, and seems warmer in the calmer air sheltered 
from the \vind. Now, there may be two reasons for 



34 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

this. One reason is, that, as the air next your face 
and hands is still, it absorbs the heat of your body 
slowly, and you feel warmer than when in the open 
field, when the wind sweeping over you took up your 
bodily heat, and, carrying it continually away, quickly 
lowered your temperature. Another reason is, that the 
sun shining on the ground the previous day warmed 
it, and when the sun went down the earth slowly gave 
up its heat to the air. In the open field the ground 
may also be giving up its stored heat to the air ; but, 
as the air is in motion, the heat is swept away and lost. 
Here in the shelter from the wind, the heat given up 
by the ground has a chance to accumulate in the 
calmer air. This curious behavior of the ground, in 
giving up its heat to the air in the night, is plainly 
shown by covering the ground with paper or cloth. 
The gardener, wishing to save his plants from early 
frosts in the fall, covers them with cloth or paper. In 
the morning he finds the plants under the paper or 
cloth unharmed, while other plants in the same garden 
may be killed by the frost. We cannot think of the 
cold as falling down hke so much rain or snow, and 
being thrown off by the newspaper spread over the 
plants : it is nothing like this at all. The sun shone 
on the ground the day before, and warmed it. At 
night the heat freely escaped into the air, and the 
ground grew colder and colder till the sun returned 
in the morning. The newspaper spread over the 
plants kept the air quiet under it. The heat of the 
ground escaped into the air ; but, as the air could not 



THE ATMOSPHERE. 35 

get out from under the paper blanket, it remained 
warm. The paper simply prevented the heat from 
escaping ; and the air about the plants, and the ground 
too, remained warm, and the plants were saved from 
freezing. In like manner the ground in the shelter 
from the wind may warm the air, and the air itself 
being quiet may go on storing up the heat from the 
ground. The heat is saved in the sheltered place, 
and lost in the exposed open place. For the same 
reason, a calm night is always warmer than a windy 
night, as is plainly shown by our two reports. In the 
second report, you observe that it is usually warmer on 
cloudy nights than on clear nights. The clouds act 
as a blanket, and prevent the radiation of the heat 
from the ground. There is radiation of heat even 
from frozen ground in winter, and clouds serve to 
check this loss of heat. 

XX. VALUE OF SHELTER. — In the paragraph 
(XIII.) on "forwarding" plants, we saw the advan- 
tage of placing our early plants in the right aspect, 
or in places where they would receive the greatest 
amount of sunlight. Read this paragraph again. We 
now add another fact to those we learned then. We 
find that shelter from the wind also helps the farmer, 
the poultry-man, and gardener. We find now that 
shelter from the cold winds — the north-west, north, 
north-east, and east winds — benefits plants and animals 
by saving the heat of the sun *by night as well as by day. 
In this way our experiments again become of practical 
value, in pointing out the best place for a garden, or 



36 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

the best position for a hot-bed, or plant-house of any 
kind. They show that the farmer who makes an open 
shed for his cattle, where they can take the air in 
sunny days in winter, with the open side of the shed 
to the north-west, would be careless alike of the com- 
fort of his animals and his own property, and as igno- 
rant as he is cruel. As in considering the aspect of a 
garden, in the other paragraph, we again find the value 
of location in regard to the points of the compass. A 
flower-bed on the south side of a house is better than 
one on the north side, and a sloping field on the 
south-east side of a hill will be better for early crops 
than one on the north-west side of a hill. Just as 
we found when standing in the open field at night, 
exposed to the north-west wind, that the wind swept 
through our clothing, taking our bodily heat rapidly 
awa)^, — precisely in the same way a barn or house 
or greenhouse fully exposed to cold winds will be 
colder than one sheltered by trees or a hill. The 
wind blows through the cracks of the barn or house 
or greenhouse ; and the plants, animals, or human 
beings will need more clothing or more fires to keep 
them warm. For this reason, city houses are warmer 
than isolated country houses ; because one house shel- 
ters another from the wind. Cows kept in a tight bam 
sheltered by trees or other buildings will be warmer, 
and \vill give more and better milk, than equally good 
cows in a poorly built barn exposed to cold winds, 
or allowed to stand in the daytime in winter in cold, 
windy yards. In this study of shelter we have con- 



THE ATMOSPHERE. yj 

sidered only the heat of the wind. We now see the 
value of shelter from the cold winds to save heat. The 
warm winds we are glad to welcome ; and we need 
no shelter from them, except in those few instances 
where we wish to keep things cool. An ice-house 
would plainly be better on the north side of a grove 
of trees or a hill, away from the warm winds. If we 
wished a late crop of strawberries, we might select the 
north side of a hill for our garden ; because it would be 
cooler, and the plants would be delayed in ripening 
their fruit. 

XXI. MECHANICAL EFFECTS OF THE TATIND. 
— There is one more matter to be considered in re- 
gard to this shelter from the wind. Plants and trees 
standing in the air are moved by it, and in some in- 
stances may be injured by the wind. This we call a 
mechanical effect, as when the wind shakes an apple- 
tree, and the apples are shaken off before they are ripe. 
This has plainly nothing to do with the direction or 
temperature of the wind. At the same time, we must 
consider it, if we are to raise the best fruits and flowers. 
When the air is moving rapidly, as in a high wind, it 
presses against every thing it meets. If the object is 
firm and strong, like a house, the pressure of the wind 
may be resisted, and the air forced to turn aside and 
pass on each side or over the top of the house. It is 
quite different with a tree. The stem is held firmly in 
the ground, by the roots ; but the branches and smaller 
twigs that form the top, and that carry the leaves, 
flowers, and fruit, are free to sway and move about in 



38 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

the wind. If the wind is high, the Hmbs and branches 
may be thrashed and beaten about, and the foHage, 
flowers, or fruit destroyed and lost. If the tree is 
protected and sheltered by other trees, or by a building 
or a hill, it may be in still air, and, being quiet, may 
keep its fruit or flowers, and thus save the crop. 

We cannot easily try any experiments to prove which 
of the various winds that blow is the strongest. It 
would require a great number of observations to find 
this out. We can only take the records of observa- 
tions taken over many years. The Signal-Service 
reports will give us this ; and, from these reports, it 
appears that the prevailing winds in North America 
are westerly. By " the prevailing winds " is meant, 
that certain winds prevail or blow for a greater number 
of days in a year than other winds. The prevailing 
winds are south-west, west, and north-west, or in a 
general westerly direction. There are more days when 
the wind is westerly than when easterly or in other 
directions than south-west, west, or north-west. There- 
fore, to protect our trees and plants from injury by 
high winds, they should be sheltered from these west- 
erly winds. If we are planting an orchard, a hillside 
sloping to the east or south-east would be better than 
one sloping to the west or north-west. Our land may 
be level, and we wish to plant an orchard. The best 
plan will be to plant the trees in a solid mass, because 
then those on the west side will protect all those to 
the east. If we planted the trees in one long row 
north and south, plainly they would all be exposed to 



THE ATMOSPHERE^ 



39 



the wind. If we planted the trees in one long row 
east and west, the trees at the west end of the row 
would in part protect the others. The square or- 
chard would clearly be the best ; but a better plan 
still would be to plant in a square, and to set up a 
row of forest-trees to serve as a screen, or wind-break, 
along two sides of the square, the west side and the 
north side. 

The following diagrams, showing the positions of 
twelve trees, explain this matter clearly : — 

Wind-break. 




> 




• • • • 

o • o e 

O O O 9 Best position. 



Dangerous winds. O 090909099000 

Bad position. Better position. 



In cultivating flowers, shelter from high winds is 
very important. A flower-garden on an exposed hill- 
side open to the west, north-west, and south-west 
winds, will not give so many or so good flowers as one 
well sheltered from these winds. A certain amount 



40 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

of motion in the air does no harm to trees, plants, or 
flowers. Driving rain, squalls, thunder-storms, and 
drifting clouds of dust from a road, will often destroy 
the work of weeks in the flower-garden. The more 
delicate garden- flowers, like the fuchsia or begonia, 
are quickly destroyed by rough winds ; and, to get 
perfect flowers of any kind out of doors, protection 
from the prevailing winds will be found of the utmost 
importance. The great beauty of greenhouse flowers 
springs, in part, from the still and sheltered air in which 
they bloom. And, for some of the more delicate 
flowers, it is found nearly impossible to produce per- 
fect blooms out of doors, on account of the injury 
by rough winds, beating rains, and thunder-storms. 



CLIMATE. 41 



CHAPTER IV. 

CLIMATE. 

XXII. LAND AND WATER — When we come 
to observe the surface of the planet on which we Hve, 
we find that it is divided into two unequal portions. 
The larger part is covered with water ; and the smaller 
part stands up above the level of the seas and oceans, 
and makes the dry land. It is upon the land, only, 
that we find the plants that make sa large a part of 
the wealth we gather from the ground. A few varie- 
ties of plants grow under water, and do not appear 
to belong to the land ; yet all of these are found in 
shallow water near the shore, so that, practically, all 
plants belong on the land. If we observe any plant 
growing on the dry land, from day to day, we shall 
find, that, whatever its habit of growing, it cannot grow 
or even live without water. Take any plant growing 
in a pot, and place it in a dry place where no water 
will come to it, and it soon begins to show signs of 
distress. It droops and withers, and, in a short time, 
dies. We recognize that it is alive, and must be sup- 
plied with water precisely as all animals must have 
water to drink. How and why it drinks, we cannot 
now stop to consider. What we wish to observe now 



42 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

is, that plants require water. We learn that the larger 
part of the earth is covered with water, and we have 
now to consider how the water in the seas is brought 
to the plants on the dry land. 

The story is, that a fool, having set out upon his 
travels, came to a rapid river, over which he could not 
pass. Observing that the water was flowing swiftly 
down the stream, he concluded to sit down by the 
bank, and wait till it had run past. Now, from the 
man's point of view, he was not so foolish as he ap- 
peared. If he had extended his observations to the 
mountains and highlands where the stream started, he 
might be quite correct in thinking the time would 
come when the mountains would be drained, and the 
stream run dr)'. This happens every summer in some 
places ; and the streams do actually run dry, so that 
we can walk across the river-bed dry-shod. If he had 
extended his observations still farther, he would have 
found, that, so long as the sun and the seas remain, the 
streams will not run dry. In this matter, half the facts 
are as bad as no facts at all. The fool knew half the 
truth, and came to a foolish conclusion. Had he 
known the whole truth, he would have been a wiser 
man. We must beware, lest we, like the fool, jump to 
half a tRith. We see the streams everywhere running 
through the valleys, and plainly watering all the plants, 
the trees, and the grasses that grow upon their banks. 
We might think the water thus supplied to the plants 
along the edges of the streams came from the hills 
where the streams rise. It does indirectly ; and yet, in 



CLIMA TE. 43 

reality, it all comes from the seas. We see, also, that 
many plants do not grow near any streams ; and, in 
many instances, the streams are actually taking the 
water away from the plants. This we see on every 
wooded hill and mountain, where the brooks and rivu- 
lets are flowing swiftly away from the forests. 

XXIII. THE RAIN. — Fill a clean, dry tumbler 
with small pieces of ice, and place it in a warm room. 
In a few moments the outside of the glass will grow 
misty and wet ; and presently drops will gather, and 
run down upon the table. Scatter a tablespoonful of 
fine salt over the broken ice in the glass, and more 
water will appear on the glass, and presently will turn 
to white frost and ice. This frost we can scrape off, 
and see it melt and turn back into water. In this 
experiment we obtain water and frost, or frozen water. 
The water clearly did not come through the glass from 
the inside ; and the question is. Where did it come 
from ? It must come from the air. We see the kettle 
boiHng on the fire, and see the steam rising and float- 
ing away till it disappears in the air. We know, that, 
even if the kettle holds a quart of water, the heat of the 
fire will in a certain time entirely evaporate the water, 
and it will completely disappear. We cannot think 
the water is destroyed, and we are sure it is some- 
where unseen in the air. Our ice-goblet merely brings 
it back, and makes it visible. So we find that heat 
will cause the air to take up water, and hold it as 
invisible vapor, and that less heat or cold will cause it 
to return to its visible and liquid form. We go out of 



44 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER, 

doors in the evening, at tlie end of a warm, clear day. 
No rain has fallen, and yet we find the grass and 
other plants wet with dew. The grass is colder than 
the air ; and, as with our ice-glass, the invisible vapor 
in the air condenses, and appears as water, or dew, 
upon the grass. 

XXIV. THE SUN THE RAIN-MOVER. — People 
in the country will sometimes point to a beam of sun- 
light shining through the clouds on a warm summer 
day, lighting up the fine dust and vapor in the air, 
and will tell you that " the sun is drawing water," 
and that we shall have rain soon. A little observation 
will often show you that they are mistaken ; for the 
spot where the beam of light falls may be a dusty 
road, or the top of a house, where there is no water to 
be drawn up. At the same time, there is a grain of 
truth in this mistaken notion. The sun is the great 
water-mover that supplies all the plants on the land, 
with fresh water from the sea. The sun shining upon 
the surface of water in a pond or lake, or the water 
of the sea, causes a portion of it to evaporate, and rise 
as invisible vapor in the air. It acts as the fire under 
the tea-ketde upon the stove, in causing the water to 
evaporate and disappear in the air, except that it is 
much slower, and on a much larger scale. The sun 
shining upon the Gulf of Mexico and the tropical 
seas, causes the water to evaporate, and rise in the air. 
The air, also heated, expands, rises, and moves away 
to the north as the great, warm, southerly winds, 
taking the water with it. In time the warm, vapor- 



CLIMA TE. 45 

laden winds meet the colder winds ; and the invisible 
vapor becomes visible as mist, fog, and clouds. If 
the temperature falls still more, as the warm winds 
move farther north, the clouds condense, and the mist 
falls in drops as rain. In like manner, the warm, vapor- 
laden air may meet cold mountains or still colder air, 
and have its vapor condensed to clouds, rain, hail, 
and snow. We now see the folly of the man who 
waited for the river to flow by. There is no end to 
the circle. The sun evaporates the water from tropic 
seas. The winds carry the vapor over the land ; and 
condensed by colder winds, by meeting mountains, or 
the cold surface of the ground, it appears as dew, or 
falls as rain that drains into the brooks, streams, and 
river, and flows back to the ocean from whence it 
came. So long as our atmosphere, the sun and the 
earth, the lands and the seas, remain, this will con- 
tinue, and the streams will not run dry. 

We must here observe one thing more. The people 
who, on seeing a dusky beam of light through a rift 
in the clouds upon a summer day, tell us the sun is 
drawing water, do, in another way, hit upon a half- 
truth. The sun shining upon the ground and fields 
does cause a certain amount of evaporation ; and this 
invisible vapor rises, and condenses into clouds in the 
immediate neighborhood. These local clouds may 
condense, and fall as local showers, and so add to the 
general rainfall. This operation takes place frequently 
on warm summer days ; and serves to economize the 
supply of rain, by returning some of the water raised 



46 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

from the ground back to the earth. How far this 
happens, we have no means of knowing ; yet we may 
feel quite sure that the main supply upon which we 
depend comes from the great seas that surround all 
the continents. The local showers help us. The 
great storms bring us water from the seas. 

XXV. THE RAINFALL. — These observations, in 
a general way, explain the source and movements of 
the water to all the plants growing on the surface 
of the ground. For our studies of plants, it is only 
necessary to observe that there is a difference in the 
rainfall at different times and places. By the rainfall 
is meant the amount of rain that falls in any one place 
in a year. The rainfall varies all over the country, 
being much greater in some places than others. The 
amount of rain that falls is affected by mountain- 
ranges, by the distance from the sea, by plains, and 
by the shape and direction of the coast. These are 
very interesting matters, and would repay careful study ; 
but, for our work upon the land with plants, we only 
need to know the rainfall of the particular place where 
we live and are at work. 

XXVI. THE RAIN-GAUGE. — We can, by con- 
sulting the reports and maps of the Signal Service of 
the United- States Government, find out just what the 
rainfall may be in any part of the country. We can 
find recorded in books just about how much water 
falls as rain or snow or hail in every State in the Union. 
It would seem a good plan to do this, and thus save 
all trouble. It is a good plan. It is a far better plan 



CLIMA TE. 47 

to find out for ourselves. We may read that the rain- 
fall in our State is three inches and a half, or four 
inches, or something else ; yet we may have very little 
real knowledge of the fact. Measure the rainfall of 
the place where you live, and you will be sure to learn 
in one month more than you could ever learn from a 
book. To read that a quarter of an inch of rain fell 
in an easterly storm, is one thing : to find it out for 
yourself, is quite another. 

To measure the amount of rain that falls, an instru- 
ment called a rain-gauge must be set up in an open 
place, out of doors, away from trees or buildings. It 
consists of a metal vessel about ten inches deep and 
two inches wide, and having a flaring top to collect 
the water. Such gauges can be bought for about two 
dollars. When clouds appear, and it seems likely to 
rain, the rain-gauge is placed on top of a post, and 
securely fastened so that it will not be blown down by 
the wind ; or it is sunk in a hole in the ground, but suffi- 
ciently high to prevent any of the rain falling near it 
from spattering into the gauge. The best plan is to put 
it on a post raised a few feet above ground. A cheaper 
instrument can be made by any tinman, by making a 
zinc tube two inches in diameter and six inches long, 
and closed at one end. Set this on the post ; or, if 
in town, on top of the roof, away from the chimneys, 
and high enough to escape the spatter from the 
roof. After the rain has ceased, bring the gauge into 
the house, and carefully measure the depth of the 
water inside, in inches and tenths of inches. This will 



48 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

give the rainfall. If there is half an inch of water in 
the gauge, then we say the rainfall is half an inch. 
This means that enough rain has fallen to cover the 
entire surface of the ground one-half inch deep. If 
the larger rain-gauges having the flaring tops are used, 
much more water will be found in the vessel than in 
the plain, straight gauges. To get at the true meas- 
urement, the depth of the water must be divided. 
The usual plan is to divide by two ; and, if the 
vessel contains two inches of water, it means that 
only one inch has fallen. If you can find no better 
instrument, a glass tumbler, with flat bottom inside 
and perfectly straight sides, will make a very fair rain- 
gauge. It is better to take this than to do noth- 
ing. Drive four nails into the top of a post, and 
place the tumbler between them when it threatens to 
rain. 

Carefully put down full records of all observations 
with the rain-gauge. IMake a note of the date ; and, 
if in the daytime, the hour the rain began, and the 
day and hour it stopped. As soon as the rain stops, 
or early the next morning after a stormy night, care- 
fully measure the depth of the water in the gauge, and 
add this to your record. If the gauge is full of snow, 
place the gauge near a fire, and melt it, and measure 
the water as soon as the snow is melted. Do this for 
not less than one whole month, or, better stifl, for a 
whole year. A single experiment will teach some- 
thing. A year's observation will give you many \alu- 
able facts. 



CLIMA TE. 



49 



Here are reports of rainfall, from actual observations 
taken at Houghton Farm : — 

Rainfall at Houghton Farm, in July, 1884. 









Rain in Inches 


Date, 


Began. 


Ended. 


and 
Hundredths. 


4 


Rain, 3 p.m. 


Night. 


0.75 


5 


Shower, 8 P.M. 


Night. 


1.46 


8 


Showers, 1.30 P.M. 


On the 9th. 


0.27 


II 


Showers, 2 p.m. 


4 P.M. 


0.91 


12 


Showers, 3 p.m. 


Night. 


1.07 


13 


Showers, 1.30 p.m. 


1.50 P.M 


0.63 


19 


Showers, 3.35 p.m. 


4 P.M. 


0.15 


23 


Showers, 6.30 p.m. 


Night. 


0.57 


25 


Rain, early morning. 




0.22 


27 


Rain, 12 M. 


Night. 


1. 21 


29 


Rain, early morning. 


7 A.M. 


0.18 


29 


Rain, 11.40 A.M. 


Night. 


0.28 


31 


Rain, 11 A.M. 

Total 


5 P-M. 


0.02 


7.72 







50 



TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER, 



Rainfall at Houchiton Farm, for August, 1884. 









Rain in 


Date. 


Began. 


Ended. 


Inches and 
Hundredths. 


4 


Showers, 12.30 p.m. 


Night. 


0.74 


5 


Rain, 2.45 p.m. 


Night. 


0.21 


7 


Rain, 12.30 p.m. 


5 P-M. 


o.oi 


8 


Showers, 3.50 p.m. 


4.50 p.m. 


0.06 


10 


Showers, night. 


Night. 


0-35 


II 


Showers, 8 p.m. 


Night. 


0-35 


21 


Thunder-shower, early 








morning. 


Early morning. 


0.15 


22 


Thunder-shower, 12 m. 


Evening. 


0.69 


25 


Rain, 9 p.m. 


9 a.m., 26th. 


0.32 


29 


Rain, early morning. 


4.30 p.m. 


0.72 


30 


Thunder-shower, 5.15 








P.M. 


Evening. 


0.16 


341 



Further reports can be made by adding np the rain- 
fall in the different showers, rain-storms, or thunder- 
storms, and dividing by the number of each to get the 
averages of each of the three kinds of storm. 

It will be observed, that there is a great difference 
in the amount of rain that falls in the different storms ; 
a single thunder-shower giving more water than a storm 
extending over two days. Compared with the same 
months in other years, these reports show that the rain- 



CLIMA TE. 5 1 

fall for July was very heavy, and for August was some- 
what, though not much, below the average. 

XXVII. CLIMATE. — All of these things that we 
have been considering — the sun, the temperature, the 
winds, clouds, and rain — go to make up what is called 
the climate. Their aspect and operations from day 
to day make what we call the weather. The climate 
in which we live, and the character of the weather we 
have in a year, decide what plants we can cultivate in 
the particular place where we reside. It is for this 
reason that we have been making these many obser- 
vations. If wealth comes from the ground, in the form 
of plants that we may eat, or use in other ways, plainly 
we shall never grow rich unless we understand our cli- 
mate, and cultivate those plants adapted to it. Every 
plant grows and thrives in a particular temperature. 
If it is too cold or too warm, it will fall ill and die. 
If the summer is too short, it will be cut down by 
frosts before its fruit is ripe. Oranges do not grow 
in Maine, neither can you find thick grassy lawns in 
Florida. Some apples are fine, large, and juicy in 
New York, and poor enough in Texas. The cactus 
opens its wonderful flowers in the dry air of Mexico ; 
and the lily of the valley blooms in the cool, damp 
shade of Massachusetts gardens. The rice-plant, the 
wild aster, the cotton-plant, and sage-bush have each 
their home ; depending not alone on the soil, but on 
the climate, the sunlight, the temperature, the winds, 
and the rainfall. 

The climates of the world are divided, for conven- 



52 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

ience, into three great classes, — the warm dimates, that 
extend around the world on each side of the equator, 
in the torrid zone ; the temperate climates, on each 
side of this zone ; and the cold climates, about the 
poles. There are also dry climates and wet climates, 
depending on the amount of the rainfall. While we 
might spend much time in studying this interesting 
matter of the climates, we must remember that our 
aim is to find the sources of wealth in plants in the 
particular place where we live. It is only important 
for us to understand perfectly the actual climate of 
the particular place where we live. This we can find 
out by a series of regular observations of the behavior 
of our climate, as shown by the weather, from day 
to day. We can also find it all in books, but we shall 
never understand it so well as when we find it out for 
ourselves. 

XXVIII. WEATHER OBSERVATIONS. —The 
most important point to be studied in regard to the 
climate in any particular place is the temperature. 
We must know how soon in the spring it is safe to 
plant seeds or set out plants, how early in the fall our 
greenhouse plants must be taken into the house, how 
long we can leave our crops in the fields before biting 
frosts destroy them. One observation each day will 
be sufficient ; and, for this hour, we will choose seven 
o'clock in the morning. We have observed, that, by 
the daily motion of the earth, the sun shines on one 
particular spot all day, and supplies more or less 
warmth to the air. At night the earth and the air 



CLIMATE. 53 

rapidly part with their heat ; and, if the night is cahii 
and clear, it will grow steadily colder all night. On 
such nights it is coldest in the early morning, before 
the sun begins again to raise the temperature. For 
this reason we select seven o'clock, as being usually 
the coldest hour of the twenty-four. Another reason 
for this hour is the fact that the United-States Signal 
Service, and a great number of private observers, have 
selected this hour ; and thus all reports are uniform, 
and tell the exact truth at a fixed time. Place the 
glass in some convenient position outside of a window, 
in any aspect except east, and away from any chim- 
ney, veranda, or overhanging cornice. The following 
directions, prepared for the members of the Chau- 
tauqua Town and Country Club, show how to make a 
report of the temperature for any one month in the 
year. 

I. Rule on a sheet of letter-paper thirty-one ver- 
tical lines a quarter of an inch apart, and number at top 
from I to 31. Rule over these, half as far apart, sixty 
horizontal lines, and number upward from 30 to 90. 
Place a dot at junction of horizontal line, correspond- 
ing to height of thermometer, and line for day of 
month, each day at seven a.m. The observation should 
be made daily at exactly seven o'clock. At end of 
month, join all the dots together by straight lines. 
See the sample chart opposite page 5 7, it being one 
month's record at Houghton Farm. 

The Signal-Service observers also make reports of 
the temperature at other hours of the day. As the 



54 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

welfare of any plant growing out of doors depends on 
the lowest temperature it may have at any time, this 
early morning obser\'ation will tell all that it is essen- 
tial for us to know. Plants are also injured by too 
high temperatures ; but, if the record of the coldest 
hour of the twenty- four is very high, we can always 
feel sure it is higher still at other hours of the day or 
night. Lettuce becomes hard and tough, and quickly 
runs to seed, in the hot weather of July. The morn- 
ing temperature of that month is high. It is lower in 
May ; and we see May is a better month for lettuce 
than July, even if we do not know what the noonday 
temperature of either month may be. The seven- 
o'clock temperature in Florida during May is higher 
than in February. This is also true of Massachusetts, 
but with a difference. In Massachusetts the tempera- 
ture is below freezing, nearly every morning through 
February. Plainly the lettuce will not grow there. In 
Florida the temperature may be just right for lettuce 
in February, and all wrong or too high in May, at the 
very time it is just right in Massachusetts. We see at 
once that any man having made these seven-o'clock 
observations in either State, could decide in each State 
when to plant his lettuce. If we had two reports from 
these two States, in February and May, and did not 
know in which State they were taken, and were then 
told that lettuce grew well in one place and not in an- 
other, we could decide exactly in what State the plants 
grew. These things show how valuable these obser- 
vations of the temperature may be. It may be thought 



CLIMATE. 55 

that no man would be so foolish as to plant lettuce 
with the snow on the ground. Perhaps not ; yet every 
spring hundreds of people plant seeds, and set out 
plants, too early or too late, simply because they do not 
know the daily temperature of the climate in which 
they have lived all their stupid lives. Tens of thou- 
sands of dollars have been lost again and again by 
gardeners and florists, because they left their plants out 
too late in the fall ; when three minutes' work once a 
day for a month might have saved them from all the 
losses that now spring from their ignorance and care- 
lessness. 

Another subject for observation is the direction of 
the wind. This should be done at seven o'clock a.m., 
and may also be reported with observations on the 
state of the sky, whether it is " clear," " fair," or 
"cloudy." These two reports are included in the ex- 
ample opposite page 57. Directions for both observa- 
tions, designed for the members of the C. T. C. C, are 
here given : — 

2. Report, at same hour each day, direction of 
wind, by placing initials for wind at foot of vertical 
line for No. i. Work No. 2 also goes well with No. 3, 
below. If preferred, write out wind record thus : ist, 
N. ; 2d, W. ; 3d, N. ; 4th, S.W. ; 5th, E. ; etc. These 
initials are for the points of the compass from which 
the wind comes, in every case. If there is no wind, 
write " o " in the record. For example, see the chart 
for a month, opposite page 57. 

3. Rule thirty-one short vertical lines a quarter of an 



56 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

inch apart, on a sheet of letter-paper, and rule, over these, 
three horizontal lines ; mark upright lines with days of 
month, I to 31, and horizontal lines, "Clear," "Fair," 
"Cloudy." Place a dot on junction of the line of 
each day and that for the state of the weather ; join 
all dots by straight lines. When one-third or less of 
the whole sky is clouded, the record should be " Clear." 
If from one-third to three-fourths of the sky is clouded, 
the record should be " Fair." When three-fourths 
is clouded, record " Cloudy." The observer should 
stand where the whole sky can be seen. Although any 
hour of the day may be taken for this observation, 
provided it be the same hour every day, seven a.m. is 
the time advised. 

Reports of the rainfall are valuable, and the making 
of the observations is excellent practice in observatory- 
work. The reports can be made in the graphic method 
(as it is called), by using vertical lines for the days of 
the month, and about twenty- one horizontal lines giving 
tenths of inches or two full inches, which will be as much 
as will be generally observed in any one storm. Some 
rainfalls are much more heavy. At one time seven 
inches of rain in half a day were reported at Hough- 
ton Farm. Ignorance of the amount of rain that may 
fall in a year has led to serious losses in farming. The 
farmer, buying a new farm in a country with which he 
is not familiar, may plant celery for a neighboring city, 
only to find that the August droughts just there are too 
severe for that crop, and thus lose his time and labor. 
He may give up that crop, and try something else. 



CLIMA TE. 57 

Perhaps he will ; but if he is an ignorant man, and not 
an observer, he may say that perhaps next year the 
season will not be so dry ; and again he will suffer loss. 
The rainfall is now thoroughly known in nearly every 
county in all the States ; and there is no excuse for the 
farmer who plants crops that will be injured by the 
excess of rain, or the lack of rain, in any one place. 
The wise farmer will not be content with this alone. 
He will also make his own observations of the tem- 
perature, the rain, the winds, and the clouds. 

For those who have no time or inclination to make 
these observations of the rain, the winds, the clouds, 
or temperature, and who wish to make observations 
of some kind, there are the casual phenomena of the 
weather and nature that may be made at any hour. 
This forms Lesson No. 4 of the C. T. C. C. pro- 
gramme, and the following instructions show how to 
do the work : — 

4. Observe at any hour, and record every day, 
some fact in regard to the weather or any other natu- 
ral phenomena, as explained in the Programme of 
Work. On the opposite page is a good example 
of such a record on the farm, for one month. Any- 
where, in town or country, something can be found 
for record every day. Have a sheet with at least 
thirty-one lines on it, and give at least one line to 
every day. The following are some of the casual 
natural events which are worthy of record : High 
winds, storms, thunder- showers ; for all these, the 
time of occurrence, duration, and direction of motion. 



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58 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

Distant thunder without visible Hghtning, and distant 
or " heat " hghtning. Objects struck by hghtning. 
Hail-storms ; time of occurrence, duration, size of 
stones, direction of moving. Aurora borealis, or 
northern lights. Shooting stars. Latest frost in 
spring, and earliest in autumn ; white frosts. Time of 
freezing of rivers, lakes, and large ponds. Appearance 
and depth of snow. Unusually heavy rains. Hazy 
or smoky appearance of the atmosphere. Smoke of 
forest-fires. Time of budding, leafing, blossoming, 
ripening, and fading of plants, — especially agricultural 
plants, trees, fruit, etc. Time of appearance, nest- 
ing, disappearance or migration, of birds, insects, etc. 
Occurrences of interest among domestic animals. 

WEATHER RECORD (CASUAL PHENOMENA) 
AND FARM NOTES. 

Houghton Farm, May, 1884. 

1. Three more fine lambs; these make sixty-seven, 
from fifty-eight ewes. American Wonder Peas, sown 
April 15, broke ground to-day. 

2. The sun obscured by smoke about 4 p.m. Much 
like the smoky or yellow days in lii story. Max. temp., i 
to 2 P.M., 84° F. 

3. The cherry (prunus cerasus) and currant (ribes 
rubrum) in bloom. Smoky again. A whippoorwill heard 
in the evening. 

4. Shepherd's purse (capsella bursa-pastoris) in bloom. 
Golden willow (salix alba, var. vitellina) in bloom. An 
early sugar maple (acer saccharinum) has passed its bloom. 



CLIMATE. 59 

5. A thnncler-shower, 5.45 to 6.45 A.M. ; a few hail- 
stones. Yellowhammer (colaptes auratus), king-bird 
(tyrannus carolinensis), and yellow-bird (chrysomitris tris- 
tis) seen. 

6. N. E. rainstorm. Temp. 59° F. to 51° F., 7 a.m. 
to 9 P.M. The collie pups are now fully weaned; two 
already sold. 

7. Bobolinks (dolichonyx oryziverous) have returned. 
Thunder-shower in the evening. It came from S. by W. 
The black birch (betula nigra) is in bloom. 

8. Strawberries (fragaria virginiana), violets (viola pu- 
bescens), buttercups (ranunculus bulbosus), found in 
bloom. 

9. Shower at 7.30 p.m., from N. by W. to N.E., ac- 
companied by thunder and hail. Set out selected Yellow 
Danvers onions, from last year's crop, for seed. 

10 The imported Norman mare " Favorite " has a 
horse-colt. General crop onion and carrot seed sown 
to-day. 

11. Baltimore oriole (icterus baltimore) seen. Set a 
Brahma hen on 13 Pekin-duck eggs in cabin on Crusoe 
Island. 

12. Apple-trees (pyrus malus) and sorrel (rumex aceto- 
sella) in bloom. 

13. The Department of Agriculture oats, three new 
kinds, are well up. Set out, in open garden, roses, carna- 
tions, and chrysanthemums. 

14. Polar band at 8 a.m., E.N.E. to W.S.W. A 
woods' fire on Schunemunk Mountain ; started from rail- 
road. 

15. Polar band at 4 a.m., E.N.E. to W.S.W. Show- 
ery during p.m. Partial rainbow at 5 p.m. Temp, of 
dairy-spring, 48° F. ; temp, of well (office supply) 50° F. 



60 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

i6. Polar band at 8 a.m., N.E. and S.W. A general 
second planting of peas for comparison. 

17. One domesticated wild goose commenced to sit, 
and another feathering her nest. 

18. Jersey cow, "Valley Queen " (No. 7283), has a solid 
colored heifer-calf ; sire, " Ramapo," No. 4679. 

19. Distant lightning in S.W. at 9 p.m. Sheep out 
on the East-Mountain lot. 

20. Shower of 20 m. duration at 3 p.m. Distant hght- 
ning at 9 p.m., E. and S.E. 

21. Grass enough for young stock to be first turned 
out on hill pasture, — the Park lot. 

22. Large flock of wild geese seen flying north. Cur- 
rant-worms appearing; treated bushes to white hellebore. 

23. Light shower during morning. Thunder and light- 
ning north, from 5 to 12 p.m. Fireflies first seen, along 
Awessima Creek. 

24. Thunder-shower from W.S.W. to E.N.E. First 
heard 8.30 p.m. Distant lightning in S.W. at 10 p.m. 

25. Dragon-flies first seen. Blue-flag (iris versicolor) 
is in bloom. Henderson's First-of-All Peas in blossom, — 
ahead of all sown April 15. 

26. The twin heifer-calves of " Schunemunk Lais," 
9126, have been sold to go to Georgia. Peas put in the 
1 6th are generally up. 

27. Distant lightning seen on horizon, W.S.W. to S. 
and S.E., at 9 p.m. ; and a few peals of thunder heard. 
Mower on lawn for first time. 

28. All hands and teams to spare from farm are on 
highway, " working out " road-taxes. This is a poor sys- 
tem : the contract plan gives far better roads. 

29. Largest Essex sow has a litter of nine nice pigs. 
Began shearing sheep. American Wonder Peas in bloom. 



CLIMATE. 6 1 

30. Killing frost last night. Ice formed in favorable 
localities. Found bronze turkey-hen, " Red-legs," sitting 
on eleven eggs on a brush-pile, at last winter's clearing 
on Mount Kiowilla. 

31. Orchard-grass in bloom. All cows now at pas- 
ture daily; fed lightly in stable at night. 



Another subject for observation is the barometer, 
and it is useful as indicating approaching changes in the 
weather. It should be recorded on a diagram, by the 
graphic method, as in the chart of the temperature. 

Besides giving us valuable facts in relation to the 
weather, these observations make capital subjects on 
which to sharpen our powers of observation. Such 
work teaches to be accurate, to be careful and exact 
in reporting facts, and serves to train the mind to 
truthfulness and precision. Any one trying this work 
of observation, for one or more months, cannot fail 
to find himself greatly benefited in many ways. It 
gives something to do, something to see and do every 
day ; and opens to view all the wonderful and beau- 
tiful works of the Creator, ever moving on — never 
hastening, never stopping — before our eyes. To 
observe, is to become cultivated, to be educated. 
Not to obsen^e any thing, is to be blind, to be a stupid 
person, and to miss half the pleasure of living. 



62 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 



CHAPTER V. 

ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 

XXIX. THE CONTROL OP TEMPERATURE 
AND RAINFALL. — At first sight it would seem 
impossible that any means would ever be found for 
altering the temperature in which any plant may grow. 
We may place it in a good aspect, in a sunny spot 
protected from cold winds, and not be able to prevent 
cold, frosty nights in October from destroying it. We 
may plant our rhubarb in the same well-sheltered, 
sunny place, and \vish it would start early in the 
spring. We have done every thing we can to fonvard 
the plant ; yet it will not start while the frost is in the 
ground, and while the thermometer falls below freez- 
ing every night. The chilly air at night keeps it back, 
and it will not thrust its pink fingers through the soil 
till the temperature rises permanently. In regard to 
the rainfall, we can in a small way control, not the 
actual rain itself, but the aniount of water any one 
plant, or even a few thousand plants, may receive. 
We can go out in dry weather with a watering-pot, 
and give the plants water when none falls from the 
clouds, and thus sav^e the plants' lives. 

A certain farmer, not long ago, planted a large field 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 63 

of celery. All went well till August. The plants 
grew rapidly, and promised a bountiful harvest. If 
occasional showers passed overhead, or a good storm 
or two came, all would be well, and the farmer would 
clear a handsome profit on his land and labor. The 
weather now became fair and clear every day. Signs 
of rain appeared, only to pass away without a single 
drop falling on that great celery-crop. It began to 
suffer for want of water. The grass nearly turned 
yellow. Everybody said they were having a severe 
drought. Even the brook that ran through the valley, 
not far away, dwindled down to a small stream with 
plenty of bare, dry stones in its bed. The celery- 
plants began to show signs of distress ; they stopped 
growing. The farmer was in despair ; unless it rained 
soon, he would not have half a crop. Still the hot, dry 
days went by, and there was no rain ; in another week 
the crop would be ruined. Unless rain came in forty- 
eight hours, every thing was lost. 

Just then a man came along, looked over the fence 
at the field of celery, and asked the farmer what he 
would sell it for just as it stood in the ground. The 
farmer, not being an observer, was glad to sell out the 
crop for a hundred dollars. It was perfectly valueless 
unless it rained by the next day, and the newspapers 
said there were no indications of a storm anywhere. 
The stranger stipulated that he should have the right 
to take away the celery at any time he wished. To 
this the farmer assented ; and, taking the hundred dol- 
lars given by the stranger, he went home feeling quite 
sure the man was a fool. 



64 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

Late that afternoon the farmer was surprised to 
hear the puffing of a steam-engine down by the brook. 
Wondering what it meant, he went out to the fields, 
and found a small boiler and steam-pump by the side 
of the water. A dozen men were busily laying iron 
pipes up the hill to the celery-field. A poor, old, 
second-hand pump, second-hand pipe too, but good 
enough for the purpose. He said not a word, and 
went home a wiser and a very sad man. By nine 
o'clock that night, streams of water were pouring round 
the thirsty celery-plants ; and by midnight the men, 
aided by lanterns and torches, had thoroughly watered 
the whole crop. The crazy old steam-pump puffed 
merrily away every day. Every celery-plant was 
watered as often as it could drink, and every plant 
seemed bound to grow bigger than its neighbor. The 
stranger was an observer. He saw the brook and the 
field, and had the enterprise to bring them together. 
He knew it was hopeless to depend on the rainfall. 
He must create an artificial rainfall. The crop was 
immense ; and after paying for the old pipes and 
engine, and the use of the boiler, and the wages of 
the men, he sold the crop for three thousand dollars, 
and left the farmer his empty field as a reminder that 
those who have eyes and see not are apt to fall into 
the ditch. 

Irrigation, or supplying water to growing crops, has 
been known for a long time ; perhaps, in China, for 
many hundred years. Irrigating canals and ditches 
are used in California and other places ; and they 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 65 

make it possible to practically alter the climate, as far 
as the rainfall is concerned. We can take water from 
high mountains, where the warm winds drop their water 
as snow and rain, and carry it to orchards, pastures, 
and farms in dry, sterile plains and valleys where there 
is no rain, or so very little that no plants of any value 
will ever grow. Water is even taken out of wells, and 
used to irrigate trees and plants in desert places, so 
that fruits and flowers grow abundantly where only 
sandy, rainless wastes were found before. 

With the temperature it is quite different. We can- 
not think of any way in which a plant out of doors 
could be kept warm all night through an early No- 
vember snow-storm. We can place something over a 
geranium on a cool night in September, but we could 
hardly keep the frost away from an acre of tomatoes 
the same night. It seems, at first, quite useless to 
think of controlling the temperature. How can it be 
done? Experiment must teach us. 

XXX. THE COLD-FRAME. — Get a few pieces 
of inch board, half a dozen stout stakes two feet long, 
and a common window-sash. The shape or size of 
the sash is immaterial, provided all the glass is whole. 
Take these things out of doors in some sunny spot in 
the garden, near the end of the day. It is not neces- 
sary that the sun be shining on the ground, at the time 
we begin our experiment. All we need to look out for 
is, that the ground is not frozen hard, or covered with 
snow, and that it is free from weeds and grass. Hang 
a thermometer up near by to find the temperature of 



66 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

the air. Now set up the boards on edge, keeping 
them upright by means of the stakes, and make an 
open box, on the ground, the shape and size of the 
sash. Then lay the sash on the top to form a cover 
for the box. Push the loose soil up against the sides 
of the box to close any cracks along the bottom. In 
a few moments a slight mist will gather on the inside 
of the glass. Observe the height of the thermometer ; 
and then take it down, and place it inside the box 
under the glass, standing upright against the side. 
In half an hour raise the sash, and examine the ther- 
mometer. It will be found slightly higher than when 
out of doors. Cover it again with the sash, and leave 
it there all night. At seven o'clock the next morning 
observe the temperature within the box, and then take 
the glass out, and observe the temperature outside. It 
will be found to be warmer, even under this slight 
shelter ; and, if it rained in the night, the soil inside 
the box will be dry. If the day is clear, observe the 
temperatures outside and inside the box, again, at noon. 
Within* the box the temperature will be found much 
higher than outside ; and the air in the box will feel 
soft, warm, and damp. It is plain, that, if there were 
plants growing in the soil under the box, they would 
be in a little climate of their own, quite different from 
that outside the box. 

Such a contrivance as this makes it possible to con- 
trol the temperature, in a limited degree, over a small 
space of ground. It is a rude affair at best ; and for 
real work in making an artificial climate for a fevy 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 6/ 

plants, and to carry out our experiments on a larger 
and more useful scale, we must use much better ma- 
terials. It will cost more ; and, to compensate for this, 
we shall have something that will do actual work in 
raising plants that we may either sell for money, or use 
ourselves, and thus save money, which is practically the 
same thing. 

Select a sunny spot in the garden, sheltered from 
north and west winds, and make a box six feet long 
(north and south) and three feet wide. Use heavy 
two-inch boards, and join the corners neatly, closing 
all cracks tight. Let the planks sink into the soil six 
inches, and rise above the ground one foot in front and 
eighteen inches at the back. This will give the top a 
slight slope, or inclination, to the south ; and the sides 
must be fitted to this slope. For a cover, we need 
what is called a hot-bed sash. This is a wooden sash 
six feet long and three feet wide, and having bars only 
one way. It is glazed with glass made to lap, like 
shingles, one piece over the other ; and, when laid on 
the wooden frame, it admits the sunhght, and sheds 
the rain like a roof. Such a structure is called a cold- 
frame. The name means that it is a frame or enclos- 
ure covered with glass, and having no steam.-pipes, 
flues, or other appliances for keeping it warm. To 
raise the temperature inside, we have to depend on the 
heat of the ground under it, and the heat imparted to 
the ground and air inside by the sunlight that passes 
through the glass. Such a cold-frame may be in- 
creased in size, by extending it sideways, and placing 



6S TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

more sashes side by side on top. In market-gardens 
near our large cities, cold-frames, often one hundred 
feet long, are placed in rows covering many acres of 
land, and containing tens of thousands of plants. 
Such frames serve to give work and support to a great 
many people, and supply large quantities of food to 
the people living near. 

Our experiments in the absorption of heat by con- 
fined air, in paragraph XII., plainly showed us why 
the temperature in a cold-frame exposed to the sun 
is higher than the air ; and we have now to consider 
how the little artificial climate in a cold-frame can be 
controlled. Place the thermometer inside the frame, 
at seven o'clock some clear morning in April, May, 
September, or October. Use these months in the 
Northern States, and January, February, October, or 
November in the Southern States. Observe and re- 
cord the temperature in the frame at seven and eleven 
A.M., three, six, and nine p.m., and again at seven a.m. 
the next morning. It will be found something like 
this : — 



7 A.M. 


11 A.M. 


3 P.M. 


6 P.M. 


9 P M. 


7 A.M. 


40° 


90° 


110° 


60° 


50° 


40° 



If not precisely like this, it will resemble it greatly, 
being perhaps lower at the beginning, and perhaps 
higher at three p.m. If the experiment is performed 
in summer, the range will be higher, if in the winter 
lower ; but, in either case, the proportions will be about 
the same. For nearly all our low-growing garden 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 69 

plants and flowers, like the violet, pansy, lettuce, and 
radish, this temperature is high enough at night, but 
far too high during the middle of the day. Our arti- 
ficial climate is too warm. To correct this, we watch 
the glass inside ; and, when it begins to rise above 80°, 
we lift the sash about an inch at the back, and put a 
stone or bit of stick under it to keep it open. The 
heated air will now escape through the crack at the 
upper side of the frame, and the temperature will rise 
no higher. With a little practice we can learn to ad- 
just this opening for the escape of the hot air, so nicely, 
that the temperature inside the frame will neither rise 
nor fall for several hours. At three o'clock the sun 
begins to move away ; and, if left open any longer, the 
temperature in the frame will begin to fall rapidly. 
We now let the sash down, and close the frame tight. 
The temperature will now fall very slowly all night, till 
it reaches (if the night is clear, and there is no change 
in the wind) about the same point as at the previous 
morning. The range will then be like this : — 



7 A.M. 


II A.M. 


3 P.M. 


6 P.M. 


9 P.M. 


7 A.M. 


40° 


80° 


80° 


70° 


60° 


40° 



In such a range of temperature, violets, pansies, let- 
tuce, radishes, carrots, turnips, and many other plants 
will grow, bloom, and ripen precisely as in the open 
ground. We have created a suitable temperature for 
them ; and, by giving them water whenever they need 
it, we can give them a special climate, over which we 
have entire control. 



70 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

We may suppose that such a cold-frame has been 
constructed, and that it is desired to cultivate plants 
in it. We see that the frame is dry inside, and so ar- 
ranged that no rain-water on the gi-ound outside of it 
can leak into it, and then place good soil inside, filling 
the frame to within ten inches of the glass. The sur- 
face of the soil may have the same slope as the glass, 
so that all the plants will be equally near the glass. 
A good plant to try is the French breakfast-radish ; 
and a good time to try the experiment is the spring, 
as soon as the temperature out of doors does not fall 
below 25°. When the soil is ready, select a pleasant 
day to plant the seeds. Water the soil well, and close 
the frame. No harm will come if the frame is kept 
closed the first day. If the night promises to be clear 
and cold, or if a cold storm begins, cover the sash 
with a piece of old carpet, a straw mat, or a shutter 
made of matched boards. Take off this covering the 
next morning, unless it snows, and after this follow 
this simple plan : Keep the frame closed every day 
unless the sun shines ; open the frame at the top as 
soon as the temperature inside rises above 80°, and 
close the sash by three o'clock in the afternoon, or 
as soon as it becomes cloudy at any hour. Lift the 
sash to water the plants, only on pleasant mornings. 

By such a management of the frame, we create for 
the plants in it a special climate, that is warmer at 
night and during cloudy and stormy days, and much 
more even and less liable to sudden changes, than the 
climate outside. This artificial climate will be free 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 7 1 

from cold, beating rains, droughts, and rough winds. 
In it plants will grow faster than in the open air, and, 
if we are skilful in the care of the frame, will produce 
good crops. 

XXXI. THE COLD-GRAPERY AND ORCHARD- 
HOUSE. — The cold-frame is the oldest and the most 
simple means we have of creating a special climate in 
which large numbers of plants may grow. There are 
also hand glasses, and small boxes covered with oiled 
cloth or glass, used to place over single plants grow- 
ing in the open ground, to protect them from cold 
weather ; and these smaller appliances have to be used 
in the same way. If the sun becomes too warm, they 
must be raised to allow the escape of the excessive 
heat, precisely as with the cold-frame. This same plan 
of using glass to save the heat of the sun, and create 
an artificial climate, is carried out on a large scale in 
the structures known as cold-graperies and orchard- 
houses. These are buildings with glass roofs and sides, 
in which grape-vines, peach, cherry, and other fruit 
trees, may be cultivated, either in the ground or in 
large pots, and in an artificial climate. The sunlight, 
passing through the glass roof and sides of the build- 
ings, warms the air inside ; and, by means of ventilators 
in the roofs, the excess of heat may be allowed to 
escape. Strawberries in pots placed on shelves can 
also be cultivated in such a house ; and, if of the right 
shape, such a building may be used for melons and 
cucumbers. Whatever its shape, size, or use, it is 
managed on the same principles as the cold-frame. 



72 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

In the night, and on cloudy and stormy days, it will 
be about ten degrees warmer inside than outside. As 
soon as the sun shines upon the building, the tem- 
perature inside will rise rapidly. If too high, it can 
be prevented from rising higher by opening the ven- 
tilators. By closing the house early in the afternoon, 
the heat of the sun may be saved to keep the place 
warm by night. 

XXXII. THE HOT-BED.— The next step made in 
controlling these artificial climates under glass was to 
warm the air in a frame or other structure, by, means 
of a fire, or some other arrangement for giving heat. 
If leaves, hay, straw, sawdust, or tan-bark be left in 
a heap, it will give out heat. It femients and decays ; 
and if a stick is thrust into the heap for a moment, 
and then drawn out, it will feel quite warm to the 
hand. This heat of fermentation is used to warm the 
air of a frame in which plants may be growing. Leaves 
and tan-bark can be used for this purpose, but fresh 
manure from the stable is found to be much better. 
The frame is made much deeper inside ; and the 
manure is placed at the bottom, and covered with the 
soil in which the plants are to grow. In two or three 
days it will be found that the temperature within the 
frame is much higher at night, and on cloudy days, 
than outside the frame. The material under the soil 
in the frame ferments, and gives out heat ; and this 
raises the general temperature of the artificial climate 
in the frame. We can now begin to raise plants much 
earher in the spring, and hav§ plants like lettuce and 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 73 

radishes growing finely while the ground is still cov- 
ered with snow. 

The next step was to substitute, for the fermenting 
manure, brick smoke- flues, and pipes filled with hot 
water or steam. The heat of fermentation is highest 
at first, and steadily falls from week to week, till, in 
the course of eight or ten weeks, it is spent or ex- 
hausted ; and, for hot-beds and glass buildings that are 
to be artificially warmed, something more reliable is 
preferred. This leads us to the larger plant-houses, 
used for raising plants of every kind. 

XXXIII. PLANT-HOUSES. — The use of glass in 
raising plants forms one of the most important branches 
of the art of horticulture. Glass houses of every shape 
and size are used in every civilized country ; and all 
our flowering-plants, all our fruit-trees and garden- 
vegetables, and many of our field-crops, have been 
cultivated at some time in such buildings. Glass 
houses range in size from a little conservatory attached 
to a dwelling-house, to a crystal palace giving shelter 
to tall palm-trees, as the Crystal Palace at Sydenham 
in England. They are given a great variety of names, 
according to their use ; as, plant-hotise, gi-eenhoiise, 
stove, orchid-house, melon-house, forcing-house, propa- 
gating-house, palm-house, rose-house, orangery, pine- 
house, and so on. They are usually built in one of two 
shapes, — a " lean-to," with a single roof sloping one 
way ; or a " span-roof," having two roofs meeting at 
the centre, and pitching in opposite directions. All 
are distinguished from the cold-house, grapery, and 



74 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER, 

orchard-house, by having some means — a stove, or hot 
water, or steam-pipes — for warming the air under the 
glass. The most common glass building is the greeri- 
house. This may be either a '' lean-to " facing the 
south, or a " span-roof " with the ridge of the roof 
placed north and south. In a greenhouse, nearly all 
our more common garden-plants and house-plants can 
be cultivated ; the temperature in the house never rising 
above 80°, or falhng below 50°. A hot-hoitse, ox stove ^ 
is a glass house resembling a greenhouse, but kept 
much warmer ; the temperature never being allowed to 
fall below 70°, and often rising on sunny days above 
90°. In the hot-house the artificial climate resembles 
the climate of the tropics ; and tropical plants of all 
kinds will grow and bloom in the moist, warm atmos- 
phere of such a house. As all plants require a spe- 
cial climate, it is found best to place many plants 
in special houses ; hence we have rose-houses, palm- 
houses, orchid-houses, ferneries, melon-houses, and other 
houses adapted to particular plants. In construction 
the buildings may be much alike, yet in each the cli- 
mate may be very different. The geranium and helio- 
trope will get on quite comfortably together in one 
house, where a delicate orchid would soon die. Pine- 
apples want one climate, and violets quite another. 
Young tomato or cabbage plants may grow nicely in 
one house, while the maidenhair-fern would not grow 
at all in their company. By having more fires or less 
fires, more water or less water, we can imitate the 
climate of any part of the world, and suit each plant 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 75 

to its particular wants. We can arrange the heat and 
moisture so that every plant will find just what it wants, 
and feel perfectly at home in a purely artificial climate. 

This use of glass in enabling us to create an artifi- 
cial climate has made it possible to hasten or retard 
the seasons at will. We can have strawberries in 
March, and roses all the year round. It makes it 
possible to grow pine-apples in England, and all the 
strange and beautiful flowers of the Amazon Valley in 
every Northern State. Without glass houses the to- 
mato would not grow in New England, and many of 
our common garden flowers and vegetables would never 
be seen except in the Southern States. Millions of 
dollars have been spent in England and in this coun- 
try, in building glass structures of all kinds j and great 
numbers of people earn a comfortable living in caring 
for plants growing in these artificial climates. In May 
and June over a hundred thousand plants raised under 
glass are sold every day in a single street in New- York 
City. All our flowers, from November to May, are cy 
raised, except in the Gulf^States and California, under ''^ 
glass. Lettuce is raised under glass in and about 
Boston all winter long, and shipped to New York and 
other great cities by the carload. New- York City, it 
is estimated, consumes fifty thousand heads of lettuce 
weekly during the winter ; and every plant is raised in 
an artificial climate. 

XXXIV. PRACTICAL VALUE OF OBSERVA- 
TIONS. — Our observations of the temperature, the 
sun's light and heat, the wind and rain, now begin to 



76 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

have a practical value. By the use of glass, we are 
able to create an artificial climate, in which we can 
regulate every thing except the actual amount of sun- 
light. We can have a climate always dead calm, with 
no cold weather or dry weather. A fire makes us in- 
dependent of the sun's heat, and a pump or cistern 
enable us to regulate our artificial rainfall. Our ob- 
servations show us the value of this control over the 
climate in which any plant may grow, and we have 
now to see the use to which our observations may be 
put. If we know the native climate of any plant, we 
can copy it exactly ; and the plant, finding its surround- 
ings homelike and natural, will grow, bloom^ and ripen 
its fruit to perfection. We can cause the plant to grow 
rapidly or slowly, to bloom out of the time at which if; 
would bloom if left out of doors, and out of the time 
it may bloom in its native country. We can cause 
it to rest and sleep, and cause it to again resume its 
active life. In fact, the use of glass gives us complete 
control over the lives and habits of plants ; and, as 
plants are one of the chief sources of wealth, the use 
of glass controls the production of wealth and becomes 
a business. To illustrate this, we may take the com- 
mon tomato-crop. In the Northern States it is very 
difficult, and in some places impossible, to raise toma- 
toes wholly in the open air. Plant the seed in the 
ground, and the plant will indeed come up and grow 
and bloom ; but the greater part of the crop will be 
destroyed by the early frosts before the fruit is ripe. 
By planting the seed in a hot-bed, or glass house of 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 7/ 

some kind (or even in a box in the kitchen window), 
in March, we shall have in May fine large plants suit- 
able for setting out in the open ground. These will 
be six weeks in advance of plants raised out of doors, 
and will have an abundance of ripe fruit early in the 
season, and before' the frost can cut them down. Vast 
as the tomato-crop grown for the market or sold to the 
canners may be (and it is one of our largest garden- 
crops), the whole of it is made possible by the use of 
glass. The entire crop is raised from plants that spend 
the first six weeks of their lives in an artificial climate. 
So great is the gain given by growing plants in the 
first part of their lives under glass, that many of our 
larger crops, like the cabbage, cauliflower, and celery, 
are now wholly cultivated in this way. The plan is 
also applied to melons and cucumbers, and sometimes 
to potatoes. All our bedding-plants, foliage-plants, 
and early fall flowering-plants also spend a portion of 
their lives in an artificial climate under glass. Were 
the use of glass given up, the price of all but a few of 
our vegetables, like sweet corn and beans, would be 
greatly increased, and our flower-gardens would be 
reduced to the annuals and hardy shrubs and herba- 
ceous plants. There would be no flowers in winter, 
and no early spring vegetables, no Easter-lilies, no 
orange-flowers, camellias, azalias ; no flowers whatever 
between the last wild aster blooming among the bare 
trees, and the first arbutus in the spring woods. The 
art of creating and maintaining these artificial climates 
depends on these very observations we have been 



y8 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

making, and without them not a plant-house in the 
world could be carried on. 

It is not surprising that the care of plants under 
glass should be a fascinating and delightful accomplish- 
ment for young girls and women, and also an interest- 
ing and profitable business for both men and women. 
There is nothing whatever to prevent any young man 
or young woman from becoming an observer, and learn- 
ing to care for plants under glass. We have learned 
many important facts from our observations. It is the 
application of the results of these observations, that 
makes it quite possible for any one to soon learn the 
art of creating an artificial climate suitable to any 
flower or fruit. It is quite possible we may never 
wish to do this ; but it must be kept in mind, that, in 
any case, we should know about these things, that we 
can have a right understanding of one of the ways by 
which wealth is taken out of the ground. We may 
never enter a plant-house except for pleasure ; yet, 
when we do so, we do not wish to expose our igno- 
rance of one of the most iriiportant industries in the 
country. 

Thousands of highly educated men have given all 
their lives to the study of plants under glass. In 
England, hundreds of the most cultivated and charm- 
ing young ladies work in or control fine greenhouses, 
and in no wise consider it beneath them to be thorough- 
ly familiar with the care of plants under glass. If any 
girl, or girlish young man, thinks that such things are 
not exactly polite or " genteel," they should visit Eng- 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 79 

land, and see the daughters of titled families skilful 
mistresses of the fine art of caring for a greenhouse. 
Perhaps they would see and hear some things that 
would make their ears tingle with mortification. The 
care of plants under glass is essentially a womanly and 
ladylike occupation, and many ladies have made them- 
selves famous for the splendid products of their orchid- 
houses and conservatories. As a business, it is worthy 
of any man's attention ; and, as a science, worth the 
spending of a life in work, experiment, observation, 
and study. Fortunes have been made under glass, 
and many a plant in our gardens bears the name of 
some celebrated greenhouse-man who found fame and 
fortune in his work. 

The number of different plants now cultivated under 
glass is so great that it is found best to grow each in 
its own special climate. This has led to the use of 
special houses for special crops. In a few instances, 
two or more varieties of plants are placed together ; 
and we find radishes growing in the same house with 
lettuce, and melons and cucumbers growing together, 
while geraniums, carnations, and roses, with perhaps 
other plants, are often seen in one house. The best 
growers, however, who raise plants on a large scale, 
prefer one house for one kind of plant at one time ; 
and we find, near all large cities, houses devoted wholly 
to single flowers or crops like the carnation, violet, 
rose, lettuce, or cucumber. Knowing the precise 
amount of heat or water suited to each crop, the skil- 
ful gardener is able to adjust his^ artificial climate 



8o TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

exactly to the wants of the plants ; and in this way 
he gets the best crops and the largest profit. 

As a business, this work is divided into a number of 
branches. The first and most important of these is 
floriculture. This means the growing of plants for 
their flowers and ornamental foliage. As a business, it 
has, in the last few years, grown to enormous propor- 
tions, there being not less than a million dollars in- 
vested in the business in and around the city of New 
York. It is divided into two branches. The first of 
these is the growing of cut flowers and ornamental 
plants for decorating houses and churches ; and the 
second is the growing of plants to be set out in the 
spring, in the kitchen and flower garden. It is also 
again divided into many minor branches, one man de- 
voting his whole time to one or two kinds of plants. 
In such a case a man may be known as a rose-grower 
or violet-grower or lettuce-grower. 

XXXV. THE TWO ROSES. — We may take one 
of these special branches of business, and see how 
much of knowledge and skill it requires, and how 
important it is that the man should be a trained 
observer. We will take, for example, rose-growing. A 
man in this business of growing roses for the market 
conducts almost the whole of his work in an artificial 
climate. First of all, he must understand the differ- 
ent varieties of roses. He must not only understand 
the difference between the full, deep-red Jacqueminot 
rose, and the long, slender, red, white, and yellow tea- 
roses, but he must know their habits, their modes of 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 8 1 

sleep and rest, and, above all, the temperature and 
rainfall of their native climates. He must next build 
houses in which he can create an artificial climate 
exactly suited to each kind. Let us take first the tea- 
rose. The tea-rose, of which there are many varie- 
ties, belongs in a warm climate, where there are long 
summers and short, mild winters. In its native home 
the thermometer seldom fell below 32°, and there was 
no snow, and only a little frost. We feel sure that 
this must be so, because it will not survive even mod- 
erately cold weather ; and in the Northern and Middle 
States it is destroyed if left out of doors through the 
winter. Planted out in the garden in May, it will 
grow and bloom till cut down by the frost. The 
plant, clinging to its native instincts, goes on blooming 
till the last, as if not knowing or fearing the winter, as 
if the summer would never end. The Jacqueminot 
plainly belongs in quite a different climate. Planted 
in the garden in the spring, it soon begins to grow 
rapidly, sending up short, sturdy shoots, and display- 
ing its magnificent flowers in one splendid crop 
early in the summer. As soon as the flowers have 
faded, it prepares for the winter it seems to silently 
remember. Its sturdy stems stop growing in August ; 
and hke our hardy trees, the oak and maple, it begins 
to ripen its wood, and by October its leaves have 
fallen, and the bush sleeps safely through any mod- 
erate winter. 

It is plain, that, to produce theSe roses out of 
season, two wholly different climates must be created. 



82 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

One will have a long, warm summer and short, mild 
winter : the other must have a real winter, lasting at 
least three months, and then a spring, a summer, and 
a fall. In one there will be much warm rain : in the 
other there need not be so much rain, and even snow 
will do no harm. It is clear that the man who grows 
these two foses must be an observer. He must un- 
derstand a thermometer and rain-gauge, and he must 
be a careful observer of the seasons. If he makes 
observ^ations of the temperature at seven o'clock every 
morning, he will observe the glass falls below 32° in 
October, and that the tea-rose is dying or already 
dead, and that the Jacqueminot rose has lost its leaves 
and gone safely to sleep. In creating an artificial cli- 
mate for one rose, he must never let the temperature 
fall below 45° : for the other rose, he should never let 
it rise above 40°, for many weeks. Let us see how he 
will do this. The rose-house for each plant may be, 
as far as the shape is concerned, exactly alike. The 
difference will be wholly in the way the climate is 
managed. We will suppose it is July. The tea-rose 
is planted in the border or bed in the rose-house ; but 
as all the windows are wide open, or the top of the 
house has been taken off, the plant is practically out 
of doors, and it grows finely all summer. The other 
is growing in the garden, and stays there till its leaves 
fall in October or November. By the last of Sep- 
tember the nights grow cool, and the glass is put on 
the rose-house, and it is closed at night to keep, the 
plants warm. Now it is in a wholly artificial chmate. 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 83 

When cold weather comes, fires must be started, and 
kept up day and night. A thermometer hangs inside 
among the rose-bushes ; and this is consulted every few 
hours, day and night, all winter long. Though the snow 
flies outside, the roses inside must be in perpetual sum- 
mer. They are in a climate resembling that of their 
native country, and they bloom steadily from early fall 
till late in the spring. Then they are exhausted, and 
need rest. The summer out of doors has come again ; 
and they would grow again rapidly, did they not need 
the winter rest they missed. Placed out in the garden, 
they will only rest, or grow in a listless way ; so it is 
better to to kill them, throw them away, and begin 
over again with young, fresh plants. The hardy rose, 
on the other hand, has its winter and its rest. In 
November, before the ground freezes hard, the leafless 
plants are taken up and placed in pots, and put away 
in a dry cellar where the thermometer never rises 
above 40°, nor falls below 30°. Here they sleep, with 
very httle water, till the earth in its orbit begins to 
bring back the spring. As soon as the sun begins 
to return from the south, say in January, the plants 
can be carried in their pots, and placed in a cool rose- 
house where the glass does not fall below 40° at night, 
nor rise above 70° by day. It now lives in an artifi- 
cial climate exactly resembling April. If the rose- 
man observed the temperature through some April, he 
will know just how to manage his little climate for his 
roses. He knows that April is showery. He learned 
the amount of rainfall for that month, and gives his 



84 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

plants just about the same amount of water. The dry 
stems of the bushes soon begin to change color, the 
buds swell, and the tender green leaves appear. The 
days go on, and he changes his climate to imitate 
May. He urges his fires and gives more water, makes 
it damper and warmer and more summery. As a 
reward, the splendid rosebuds appear ; and, while the 
snow still flies out of doors, the great blooms fill his 
whole house with their delicious fragrance. When the 
summer returns, he must put the plants again in the 
garden, that they may ripen their wood and prepare 
for the next winter ; or he may throw the plants away, 
and begin again with younger and fresher plants. As 
he put all the plants in the stationary climate of 
the cellar, he may bring a few at a time to the spring 
climate of his rose-house, and so have them grow 
and bloom in succession. 

This study of these two roses shows the value of our 
observations. We have only to make these observa- 
tions of the temperature, the wind, and the rain, and 
the seasons, to tell precisely the natural climate of any 
plant. Knowing this, we can imitate this climate, and 
cause any plant to grow and bloom out of the regular 
order of the seasons where we live. We can, under 
glass, force fruits and vegetables as well as flowers. 
Floriculture includes the growing of plants for their 
flowers or foliage, and also the growing of garden- 
plants. We observe the cabbage growing in a certain 
temperature, and we can imitate the climate in which 
the cabbage spends the first six weeks of its life. In 



ARTIFICIAL CLIMATES. 85 

this way we can produce, even in a very small house, 
tens of thousands of cabbage-plants, and sell them in 
April to the farmer who wishes to set the plants out 
in his fields. This growing of plants in the spring 
forms the other gi'eat branch of the florist's business. 
The use of an artificial cKmate for producing straw- 
berries, grapes, peaches, and other fruits, makes 
another important business. The growing of lettuce, 
radishes, cucumbers, and other vegetables, is still an- 
other, and a business that gives employment to hun- 
dreds of people near all our large cities. In all, the 
man or woman in the business must be a student and 
an observer. 



86 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 

XXXVI. THE TRAVELS OF THE SEASONS. 

— Our observations of the motions of the planet on 
which we hve show us that each year is divided into 
different portions, called the seasons. Our observa- 
tions of the temperature have shown us that there is a 
continual rise in the temperature in the spring, and 
a continual fall in the autumn. This rise and fall is 
exceedingly irregular, yet a study of the diagrams we 
have made plainly shows that there is this rise and fall. 
In some parts of the country, as in Florida or Cali- 
fornia, or in some parts of the Dominion of Canada, 
there may seem to be variations in this advance of the 
heat in spring and this decline in the fall \ yet it will be 
found true everywhere, that there is a rise as the days 
grow longer, and a corresponding fall when the shorter 
days return. In winter our seven-o'clock observations 
of the temperature will everywhere show variations, 
yet for many weeks it will remain generally cool or cold. 
In Georgia this time will be short ; in Maryland, Ken- 
tucky, and Kansas, and other Middle States, it will be 
longer ; in Canada it will be still longer. In summer 
there will be variations, but with generally very warm 



CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 8/ 

weather ; and the curious thing will be, that the time 
in which this state of affairs continues will be exactly 
reversed. In Canada it will be quite short ; in Mary- 
land and Kansas it will be longer; in Georgia and 
the Gulf States it will be still longer. If we could 
compare the observations made at the same hour in 
different States, we should find that there is, each year, 
a movement of warm weather up from the south over 
the whole continent, and in the fall a movement of 
cold weather down from the north. Plants are affected 
by the temperature in which they live. Each kind 
finds one particular climate best suited to its life and 
wants. We find the lily of the valley prefers a cool, 
damp climate : the cotton-plant must have a warm 
climate with a long summer. The wild strawberry and 
the blueberry thrive well in the cool, short summer of 
Maine and Canada : the orange-tree must have the 
long, warm summers and mild winters of Florida, or it 
will not live a year. 

There was a time, centuries ago, when each variety 
of plants lived only in its native climate. For in- 
stance, the potato is cultivated in Europe ; and yet 
there was a time, not long ago, when the only potato- 
plants in the world were in South America. The seeds 
or tubers of the wild potatoes were taken to Europe ; 
and, finding there a climate like that of their home in 
Peru, they grew there quite as well as in their home. 
Did we not know of this, we might think, as no doubt 
many people in Europe do think, that the potato had 
flourished in Ireland ever since the world began. We 



88 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

call it an Irish potato : and it is a good South Ameri- 
can, and never grew in Ireland till it was carried there 
in a ship. All of our farm and garden plants have 
been moved about from one part of the world to an- 
other, till it is sometimes difficult to say where they 
came from ; and, as a result, we may be in doubt as 
to their native climate. Within the past twenty years, 
this moving of plants from one part of the world to 
another has been carried on in the United States, upon 
a very large scale ; and we find large crops of certain 
plants growing in States where, a few years ago, only a 
very few were ever seen. This matter is of the utmost 
importance, and we shall consider it again presently. 
In order to understand it clearly, we must first look 
over the whole country, and observe the wonderful pro- 
cession of the plants and flowers through the seasons. 
XXXVII. THE GRASS-WAVE. — For this pur- 
pose we will take first the grass. We may suppose it is 
February. The earth, in its great annual movement, 
is bringing the warm days again to the whole Union. 
In New England, and the States along the Lakes, the 
ground is covered with snow, which extends as far south 
as Virginia, and perhaps south of the Ohio. Then 
comes a strip of bare ground, perhaps a hundred miles 
wide, or even much wider in some places. In South- 
em Texas, there is a slender line of green grass 
extending irregularly across the country from east to 
west. In parts of the Gulf States, there may be patches 
of green wherever any grass can grow. A month later 
every thing has changed. The ragged edge of the cap 



CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 89 

of snow that extends down from the north has moved 
up, and the wide stretch of bare ground has followed 
it. There are green things to be seen in Tennessee, 
Arkansas, and South Carolina, and perhaps a narrow 
fringe of grass in Kentucky. This edge of the snow 
is plainly moving backward, and the edge of the green 
grass is following it. By fitful, irregular advances and 
retreats, the snow moves onward, followed by the strip 
of bare ground and yellow fields ; and as surely be- 
hind it follows the line of grass. By April the snow 
has disappeared, gone off into Canada. Connecticut, 
Southern New York, Ohio, Illinois, and States as far 
north, are already green ; while the warm rains are 
falling on the brown sods under the trees in Maine. 
The green line sweeps on, crossing the Lakes and the 
St. Lawrence, and crowding the snow far up into Mani- 
toba ; and the whole Union is wrapped in green. Then 
comes a brief pause, and the snow returns from the 
arctic north. The grass shrinks before it ; and the line 
of yellow, this time quite narrow, comes back, closely 
followed by the edge of the snow. So steadily does 
the snow advance, and cover all the land, that it seems 
as if it would never stop. By December it covers all 
the Middle States, and threatens to reach the Gulf. 
Advance guards of the white enemy even take posses- 
sion of the mountains far down into Tennessee. Did 
nothing prevent, the snow and cold would move on 
and cover the West Lidies, Mexico, Central America, 
and touch South America, and invade the tropic valley 
of the x\mazon. About the twenty-first day of Decem- 



90 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

ber, the planet turns again to the sun. The eternal 
winter has not yet come. There is to be a new spring 
and a new summer. It begins far south, beyond Cuba, 
and moves over the seas, to land first on the point of 
Florida and the coast of Texas. The emigrant spring 
has landed, and every plant in all the northern conti- 
nent dreams of it in its wintry sleep. The snow may 
advance and retreat over the Carolinas and through 
Tennessee and Arkansas ; yet it can go no farther, and 
must move up before the advancing sun and the 
breath of the south wind. The sleepy potato in the 
cellar, and all the plants in glass houses, know the spring 
is coming ; and if in their artificial climate it is warm 
and damp, they will think it is spring, and begin to 
grow as soon as the holidays are over. 

XXXVIII. THE TRAVELLING STRAWBERRY- 
CROP. — For another ilbistration we may take the 
strawberry. Fifty years ago the people in New- York 
City had strawberries to eat for about two weeks in 
June. They waited patiently till the gardeners brought 
them over from Long Island and New Jersey ; and they 
ate as many as they could find, and were thankful. 
When the berries were gone, they said, " We will have 
some more next year." Now any one who can afford 
it can have strawberries from February till the middle 
of July ; and, if you can pay a high price for a very 
few berries, you can have them nearly every day in the 
year. At first it might be thought that the early straw- 
berries sold in New York, in March, were raised under 
glass. Some of the very choice and high-priced berries 



CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 9 1 

are so cultivated. The market-gardener, being an ob- 
server, saw that the strawberry-plants had their winter 
of rest, followed by their spring for growing and early 
summer for blooming and fruitage. He wisely con- 
cluded that the plants would be just as well satisfied 
if they passed a shorter and milder winter in a cellar. 
So he induced the young plants to take root in the 
summer, in pots, and then in the fall stored them in 
a dry cellar. As soon as the sun began to return, he 
took the now dry and sleeping plants to the spring- 
like climate of his forcing-house, and gave them water. 
In a few days the tiny new leaves appeared, and, in 
due time, the flowers and the ripe fruit. Twenty years 
ago this was regarded as a good and profitable busi- 
ness. Many people wished the berries to give to sick 
friends, particularly to children, who could use the 
delicious fruit to disguise the taste of their medicines. 
Now, though strawberries are still forced for the mar- 
ket under glass, the business is reduced in extent and 
profit by the importation of fruit from the South. The 
strawberry is an early summer fruit ; and it can be 
made to come into bearing, from Georgia to Maine, 
through every State in turn. The first berries received 
in New York come from Savannah. Then they arrive 
from Charleston and Wilmington. Next they come 
from Norfolk, and a little later from Delaware. Then 
the "Garden State pours its immense crop over the 
Hudson River. The advancing line sweeps on up 
the Hudson, through New England, and on far into 
the Eastern Provinces. It is said that a certain per- 



92 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

son who was very fond of strawberries once followed 
them up the coast. He had them for two weeks in 
Savannah, fresh from the vines. Then he found them 
running away from him ; and he made a long jump to 
Washington, and got in ahead of the first Virginia 
berries. He dined upon berries here for two weeks, 
and then skipped over to New York right in the midst 
of the Long-Island crop. He had not to wait long 
before they were ripe in Boston. He hurried on after 
them, and had them fresh from Cambridge and Dor- 
chester; and doubtless would have travelled bravely 
on to Canada, had not his physician decided that eight 
weeks of uninterrupted fresh strawberries were too 
much for mortal man, and forbade the further chase of 
the wandering strawberry-crop. 

The experience of this unfortunate person is now 
common ; and the curious thing is, that we needn't 
travel at all to have a taste of the whole long crop as 
it moves over the land. With the exception of a few 
choice crates of berries from some forcing-house, all 
the fruit brought into New-York City, before the nat- 
ural season, is brought from the South. Later, when 
the native fruit is gone, and the red wave of berries 
has swept past, up the Hudson, another and a later 
crop travels backward from Boston, and perhaps from 
Halifax. This bringing of fruit from the South in the 
spring is an important matter ; and we may consider 
it again, more in detail, presently. Just now we have 
to observe, that many of our garden- flowers, vegeta- 
bles, and fruits move over the land in the same curl- 



CLIMATES AMD PLANTS. 93 

ous manner. First comes the green edge of the grass : 
later follows a red wave of strawberries. There is 
also a raspberry-wave, a cucumber-wave, and, no doubt, 
a dark-green wave of watermelons. 

Certain flowers are much sought by bees, for the 
sake of the honey they contain. Very few flowers 
last in bloom more than two weeks ; and, to permit the 
bees to be near particular flowers, barges loaded with 
beehives have been towed up the Mississippi River, 
stopping all along wherever that particular flower could 
be found. First they bloomed about New Orleans in 
the last of the winter, then in early spring higher up, 
and so on, till they bloomed at last in midsummer 
on the Ohio. The barge actually kept pace with a 
wave of flowers as it swept over the land. 

XXXIX. THE PLANTS AND THE SEASONS. 
— If we observe the common flowers, vegetables, and 
fruits in any good garden in the Middle or New- Eng- 
land States, for one summer, we shall find that they 
can be easily classified into three groups. There will 
be the early spring plants or fruits, the midsummer 
fruits and flowers, and the late or fall flowers, fruits, 
or vegetables. The different crops will come in turn, 
forming a floral procession. Among flowers, there 
will be, first, the snowdrops, hyacinths, daisies, pansies, 
lily of the valley, and others. In summer will come 
the great host of flowers, — the roses, geraniums, helio- 
tropes, sweet-peas, peonies, and many more. Later 
will come the asters, the dahUas, chrysanthemums, and 
tuberoses. In the kitchen-garden this is even more 



94 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

marked. First, among the spring vegetables, come rhu- 
barb, lettuce, radish, and asparagus. Then the summer 
crops follow : the peas, beans, sweet corn, and other 
things. Lastly come the fall vegetables, — tomatoes, 
melons, cucumbers, potatoes, and the root-crops, the 
beets and turnips. The garden-fruits form a steady 
procession right through the season. The strawber- 
ries, currants, raspberries, blackberries, grapes, and the 
pears and apples, form a continuous series from June 
to October. 

On the farm, there is the same procession of the 
crops, — the hay-crop followed by the wheat-crop, and 
so on. 

In the fields and woods we find the same thing : 
the wild strawberry ripe in June, the blueberry in 
August, the wild grape and the barberry ripe late in 
the fall. Among the wild flowers, there is the same 
procession of bloom, beginning with the arbutus, and 
ending with the fringed gentian and the wild aster, with 
all the great company of summer flowers between. 
There is, however, this difference between the wild 
fruits and flowers, and the cultivated plants. All the 
wild flowers in any place survive the whole year round, 
the plant or the seed sleeping or resting through the 
winter ; while in the greater part of the country many 
of the garden-plants die in the winter, and would not 
appear again unless their seeds were gathered and 
saved till the next spring. All our cultivated plants 
were at one time wild. At least, we have every rea- 
son to think so ; for we know that very many were 



CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 95 

wild not many hundreds of years ago, and, of those 
whose history is lost, we can feel quite sure that there 
was a time when they were wild natives in some forgot- 
ten climate and country. We have observed that cer- 
tain crops, like the strawberry, may ripen in succession, 
in different parts of the country in turn. We see the 
order of blooming and ripening at any one place may 
also be in succession ; and these two things can be 
put together with a result that affects the price of food 
on every table in the country, and adds every year 
millions of dollars to the wealth of the country. To 
understand this, we will take a few plants, and look up 
their history and native climate, and see how they 
may be used in regard to artificial climates under glass, 
and the changing seasons as they move forward and 
backward over the country. If plants are a source 
of wealth, and are affected by seasons and climates, we 
can use our observations to decide what plants may 
be used to advantage in any particular place and any 
particular time. First of all, it is understood that we 
have learned from our observations the temperature, 
rainfall, and the general character of the winds, the 
storms, cloudy and pleasant weather, that form the 
climate of the particular place where we happen to 
live, and where we wish to gain money from the 
ground by cultivating plants. 

XL. SOME PLANT-HISTORIES. — The common 
lettuce of our gardens is regarded, by good authorities, 
as a descendant of the wild lettuce called latuca scaii- 
ola, and a native of temperate and Southern Europe, 



96 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

Algeria, the Canary Isles, Abyssinia, and the temperate 
portions of Eastern Asia. In these countries the plant 
is found wild ; and the climate of these countries ranges 
from that of Georgia to Virginia, and Arkansas to the 
middle of Indiana and Illinois. It will grow readily in 
this broad belt across the country. It will also grow 
everywhere from Southern Florida and Texas to the 
Eastern Provinces and Manitoba. It will not grow wild 
in Maine, and yet it is cultivated there. How is this 
explained ? Let us look at the plant from a business 
point of view. We raise lettuce for salads, and use it 
on our tables when it is comparatively young. As 
soon as the leaves begin to gather, and form a head, 
we pull it up, cut off the root, and use the crisp, brittle 
leaves. If we do not pull it up, the leaves grow tough 
and unpalatable, and a flower-stem rises from the cen- 
tre of the head ; and in due time the flowers and seeds 
appear, and the plant dies. We observe that the 
whole value of the plant is in its youth. AVe must 
eat it when it is young, or in about eight weeks from 
the time the seeds are planted. We do not want the 
flowers or the seeds, and have no further use for 
the plant after it is eight weeks old. It is of no conse- 
quence whether it would be burned up by the long, 
hot summer of Florida, or nipped by early frosts in 
Northern Canada. All we want is the half-grown plant 
in the spring ; and, as the whole crop is consumed as 
soon as it is old enough to eat, it is not of any con- 
sequence what the climate may be after that. 

We have seen that an artificial climate resembling 



CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 97 

spring can be made under glass, and we observed that 
the spring temperature moves up from the South on 
the land every year. It is therefore plain that lettuce 
is adapted to an artificial climate anywhere in the 
world, without regard to the weather outside the build- 
ing where it grows. The ground may be covered with 
snow till May, as in parts of Canada ; and yet, in 
a plant-house, lettuce can be grown there at any 
time after the season turns, on the twenty-first day of 
December. Besides this, as an artificial climate under 
glass is completely under control, we can have spring 
weather in the house for four months, and, by planting 
fresh seeds every few weeks, have a succession of let- 
tuce-crops. This accounts for the fact that lettuce 
can be bought ready for the table, in Boston, from the 
middle of March to the first of July. The plants are 
raised in succession under glass, and then in succes- 
sion out of doors ; and, of the millions of plants that 
are raised round that great lettuce-centre, perhaps not 
one in one million ever goes to seed. No doubt there 
are hundreds of thousands of people in the Northern 
cities who eat lettuce every day, and never saw a 
single plant in bloom. 

Now observe the advantage of our observations in 
regard to the temperature in April, May, and June. 
We may make a record of the temperature during the 
time the lettuce is growing, up to the time it is ready 
for the table ; and, if we compare this with records at 
other places from Florida to Maine, we can find at 
some time a climate exactly suited to the life of the 



98 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER, 

young plant. In Florida it may be in January; in 
Maryland, in March ; in Massachusetts, in May. The 
spring climate travels north ; and, knowing this, we can 
plant lettuce in Florida while the snow flies in Massa- 
chusetts, and plant it in Massachusetts when it is so 
hot in Florida that the plants would run to seed and 
perish. 

We may now briefly consider quite a different gar- 
den-plant, cultivated for its fruit in every market- 
garden throughout the country. This is the tomato 
{lycopersicinn esculentiini) , a plant with a compara- 
tively long life ; that is, compared with the lettuce 
that is soon fit to eat, the tomato is ready to give 
its ripe fruit only after many weeks of growth. The 
tomato is of American origin, it being considered a 
native of Peru. It is essentially a tropical plant. It 
will not survive the slightest frost, and requires a very 
long summer to perfect its fruit. How, then, do we 
find it growing in every market-garden from Florida 
to Maine ? By the aid of observation and study, we 
are able to bring this tropical plant to perfection in 
a cool, temperate climate. We extend its season of 
growing, by making the plant spend a part of its life 
in an artificial climate. The farther north we do this, 
the longer must be the time in which the plant stays 
under glass ; the farther south, the less time it spends 
in the hot-bed, and the earlier it goes out in the gar- 
den. In like manner its life depends on the return of 
the cold in the fall. In Maine the plant is killed by 
the first of October j and sometimes the farmer's wife, 



CLIMATES AND PLANTS. 99 

fearing a sharp night in September, hastily gathers all 
the fruit, both red and green, and takes it to the house, 
and the next day spreads the fruit in the sun to ripen. 
Sometimes in the fall every farmhouse in Northern 
New England has its pile of tomatoes ripening on the 
porch, while all the plants from which they came are 
dead in the fields. In Delaware, at the same time, 
the plants may still be growing finely ; and the gar- 
dener may be gathering the fruit for a week or two 
after every plant in Maine is dead. Plainly, then, 
Delaware is a better State for the tomato-crop than 
Maine. 

Another interesting example of this relation of plants 
to climates is the cotton-plant. It is a native of warm 
countries, and will not survive a frosty night. So we 
find it growing in the warm Southern States, where it 
can begin to grow early, and have plenty of time to 
perfect its flowers and seeds. If, like the lettuce, its 
branches were covered with the white lint in a few 
weeks from the time the seed was planted, it could be 
grown perfectly in New England, and could be culti- 
vated under glass everywhere. The valuable part of 
the plant comes late, and so we find it only in those 
States where the summer is long. 



100 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. 

XLI. OUR GREAT FARM. — We have learned 
that all wealth comes out of the ground. If the people 
of the United States are among the richest people of 
the world, it must be that they cultivate in the soil 
many valuable plants. Farming is the leading industry 
in the country, and it has to do with the raising of 
plants. Our obsen-ations have shown us that the life 
of a plant depends upon the light and heat of the sun, 
the motions of the earth, the movements of the winds, 
and the clouds. We have learned that the successful 
raising of plants depends upon climate, and that all 
climates must be studied by observation. He who 
never lifts his eyes above the soil on which he stands, 
who never looks beyond the little county in which he 
lives, may win from the ground something ; but it will 
not be the best or the most profitable. The man or 
woman who observes, who looks abroad over the whole 
land, who sees all the wonderful products and varied 
climates of our country, learns w^hat to do, and what 
not to do ; learns what crops to plant, and when and 
how to do it ; and wins success through study, obser- 
vation, and right thinking. 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. 1 01 

The United States presents more chances for gettmg 
wealth than any single nation or country in the world. 
It extends entirely across one of the great continents, 
and covers the best of the great north temperate 
zone. In Alaska it touches the arctic regions, and in 
Florida comes close to tropic islands. The centre of 
the temperate climate passes through the centre of the 
country. Our largest cities are in the same climate as 
the largest cities of the world. We have in one coun- 
try, and under one government, the greatest variety 
of climate, and, consequently, the greatest variety of 
plants ; and, having these, we have the most varied 
sources of wealth. The mere recounting of our crops 
seems like a wonder-tale. Every State claims its 
special crop, and special source of wealth. New York 
shows its fine apples for sale on every fruit-stand in 
English streets. The Delaware peach-crop is the lar- 
gest ever known in the history of the world. We have 
our own oranges from Florida, our foreign grapes from 
California. Our cotton- crop, our tobacco-crop, our 
crops of wheat and com, are, compared to any thing 
ever known before in the history of the world, like 
fairy tales of wealth. As a people, we have more 
to eat than any human beings ever saw before. An 
American dining-room table contains a greater variety 
of food, and more of it, than was placed on any 
European table. Fruit is cheaper and more abundant, 
vegetables are in greater variety, than were ever dreamed 
of by Roman epicures, or prepared by the most ex- 
travagant French cooks. In London, pineapples are 



102 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

often five dollars apiece : in New York you can buy a 
better one for five cents. Peaches in England are 
only for the rich : in our cities they are cheap on every 
street-corner. European peasants, Scotch and Irish 
laborers, and English mechanics hardly know what a 
good American farm-dinner means ; and it is said that 
it takes the average emigrant two weeks to get accus- 
tomed to the good living of American housekeepers. 

It is the same with all our crops, — our butter and 
cheese, our cattle, our cotton and tobacco, our hay- 
crop, even down to the annual crop of broiling-chick- 
ens, — marvellous abundance and apparently endless 
variety. We have a continent where we may choose a 
home : we can select almost any climate, — warm or 
cold, moist or dry, — and select the plants exactly suited 
to any climate. Moreover, we can have, in any large 
town or city, all the fruits and crops of every climate 
of this continent. If they do not grow in our neigh- 
borhood, they can either be raised under glass or be 
brought to us from distant States. The United States 
is, therefore, truly the greatest and the finest farm 
owned by any one nation in the world. 

XLII. PLANTS NATIVE TO ANY CLIMATE. 
— We may suppose now that you wish to raise crops 
of some kind, either to sell, or for your own use and 
pleasure. We will take first flowers. You live in 
Massachusetts ; and your observations show that the 
frost is not out of the ground much before the loth of 
April, and the first nipping frosts in the fall appear 
about the first of October. So it seems your growing- 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. 103 

season out of doors is six months long. If you have 
no glass houses of any kind, your flower-garden will 
have only the hardy roses, the hardy herbaceous plants, 
and a few hardy annuals. It will be a good garden 
with a fair succession of flowers, but you will have none 
of the fine bedding-plants or foliage-plants. In order 
to have a really good garden, you must have a glass 
house of some kind, and raise these plants, or you 
must buy them of the florist. From October to May 
you will have no flowers at all, except under glass. 

If you are living in Georgia, your garden may have 
nearly all the flowers seen in the Massachusetts garden, 
added to many more never seen in the North. There 
will be very little need of any greenhouse, and many 
plants that are killed by the early frosts in the North 
will live here all through the winter. Only a few 
plants will need to be protected under glass. In Cali- 
fornia it will be still different ; and plants that will not, 
in New England, grow two feet high, will there climb 
over the tops of the houses, and give thousands of 
flowers, where, about Boston, they rarely produce two 
dozen in one summer. Every climate will have its 
own special charm, every garden its peculiar beauties. 
There will be little to choose between the gardens in 
any State in the Union ; and, if glass is used, they 
will be all very much alike at some time in the year. 
Tea-roses will be seen in every garden ; and the fuchsia, 
the azalea, the camellia, the gloxinia, orchids, roses, and 
carnations will be seen in every plant-house from one 
end of the Union to the other. 



104 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

It is the same with fruits and vegetables, and with 
the farm-crops. In some States there will be hay-fields, 
in others cotton. In some States the marsh-lands yield 
cranberries, in others they are covered with rice. In 
the prairie States, the people will look after their cattle 
roaming over the half-wild lands : in other States, their 
time is all taken up with their great wheat-crops. The 
watermelon-crop is easily raised in the Carolinas, and 
only with difficulty in New Hampshire. Virginia is 
famous for its peanuts, Vermont for its maple sirup. 
Raisins come from California : the sharp and acid bar- 
berry grows wild in Massachusetts lanes. None of us 
can say that our home State has not its special crop 
for which it is celebrated. Every climate has its o\vn 
flowers, its own fruits, vegetables, and farm-crops. 

XLIII. PLANTS AND BUSINESS. — If plants 
are one of the means by which we win wealth from 
the ground, we must consider also another side of this 
matter. We can raise some lettuce, and put it on our 
table, and so make money by saving the money we 
might have paid to get the lettuce from some other 
place. All who live in small towns or in the suburbs 
of cities, and who have gardens about their houses, can 
do this, and should do this. Even though the amount 
may be small, still it is something; and fresh vege- 
tables from our own garden are always more healthful 
than any we can buy in the markets, and therefore are 
worth more than the best in the market. All who are 
employed in business, and who have good ground 
about their homes, should use a part of their sp?'*? 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. I05 

time in cultivating either fruits, vegetables, or flow- 
ers. 

This is, however, domestic economy, and, while it 
is business-like, is not real business. This means the 
raising of plants for the purpose of selling the crops 
in the market. We must consider this in regard to 
the climate of the particular place where we live, and 
in relation to our market, or the place where we must 
sell our crops. If we are living on a ranch in the Far 
West, it will hardly be worth while to cultivate a field 
of rhubarb or early lettuce ; for there are not enough 
people living near to eat it. If we are living in Florida, 
it will be not very profitable to raise camellias in a 
greenhouse ; for there are so many flowers out of doors 
that nobody cares to buy greenhouse-flowers. If you 
live in Portland, Me., it will hardly pay to plant cot- 
ton, or set out an orange-grove : your market may 
be excellent for cotton and oranges, but your climate 
will be against it. 

There is also another matter affecting this question 
of crops. Steamships and railroads now enable us to 
move our crops quickly and cheaply from one part of 
the country to another. We may raise those plants 
suited to the climate of the particular place where we 
live, and send the fruit and other products to a distant 
market. This we see readily enough in the case of 
cotton, wheat, and other large crops. The wheat may 
be raised in Dakota, and sent to New York to be put 
on a steamship for Europe. Our cotton-crop is like- 
wise moved to New En.cjland or Oid Eni^land, and 



I06 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

there sold to the mills. We can raise grass in Con- 
necticut, give it to our cows, and then sell the cows' 
milk in New- York City. We can raise grass in Illinois, 
turn it into cheese, and sell the cheese in Liverpool. 
We can raise roses in Newport, R.I., and sell the fresh 
buds in the streets of Boston and New York. All this 
is plain enough, and must be duly considered in select- 
ing our plants ; but within the past few years this mat- 
ter has been carried still further, and we find the great 
cities of the Northern States supplied with early spring 
vegetables and fruits from the Southern States. Mar- 
ket-gardeners about New York, who used to take pride 
in having early vegetables for sale in the city, now find 
that the same vegetables arrive many weeks in advance 
of them, from Virginia and the Carolinas. These things 
appear to make the matter more complicated, and we 
may well wonder what is the best thing to do. If we 
have glass houses, and try to force early vegetables, 
we may find we cannot sell them so cheaply as the 
Carolina farmer, who raises them without the use of 
glass. 

We need not, however, be perplexed. It is not 
such a difficult matter as it appears. First of all, the 
character of our climate -settles what we can raise on 
one particular spot of ground. Secondly, the location 
of our place to markets both far and near must partly 
decide what we had better cultivate, to produce from 
the ground the most money. This is a matter we 
must each decide for himself or herself. Meantime 
we can observe that the best thing of any kind always 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. lO/ 

brings the best price and the greatest amount of 
money. Let us take a few of the more common plants, 
by way of ilhistration. You hve near a large town, 
and have a piece of land suitable for strawberries. 
Your climate is like that of New England. Shall you 
try forcing strawberries, or, by means of shelter and 
early varieties, try to get them into market early? Your 
market is full of Southern strawberries just as your 
berries are ripe ; and they are sold so cheap that your 
returns are small, and your land does not bring you so 
much money as you wish it might. Plainly there is a 
mistake som.e where. You should not try to have early 
strawberries, but late berries, ripe when the Southern 
berries have gone. Take the rear, and not the crest, 
of the strawberry-wave as it sweeps over the country. 
Moreover, as you are near the market, you can send 
them riper and in better condition, and in this way 
command a higher price, than the distant grower, who 
suffers from all the loss and injury resulting from the 
long journey. There is no need to despair, and say 
you cannot compete with the imported fruit. You 
must have better fruit, for it is always the best that 
brings the best price. 

Your land is good for wheat, and you are near some 
Eastern city where certainly a great deal of wheat must 
be used to make flour. You try it, and find the land 
does not give you all the wealth it might. Vv'heat is 
raised so cheaply in Dakota that you cannot raise it 
without loss. Plainly your land must give you some- 
thing that cannot be brought from Dakota. You must 



I08 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER, ■ 

produce those things that are needed in your city- 
market, and that are so frail or tender they cannot be 
carried long distances without injury. Potatoes will 
not do : they can be carried a thousand miles with- 
out harm. Flowers cannot be carried over two hun- 
dred miles. Very fine and choice vegetables, and 
flowers or choice fi-uits, are plainly the best things for 
such a farm. Your best plan will be to produce very 
choice plants, extra fine vegetables, superior fruit, and 
to command high prices by high- class crops. In oth- 
er words, this matter of bringing crops from distant 
places, and disturbing the prices in our markets, plainly 
shows we must raise better plants, must become our- 
selves better observers, better and more scientific cul- 
tivators. While the world lasts, seed-time and harvest 
will not fail. The seasons will come, and plants will 
grow and bloom and bear their fruits, till our planet 
takes some new path, and the sun loses its fires. 
Wealth will always be found in the ground while there 
are plants to grow upon the land, and the seas remain 
to supply them with water. Our only plan is to ob- 
serve, to watch and study, to keep acquainted with all 
that is done in our cities and markets and farms, 
and to read all good books that may teach us any 
thing of our work. Above all, we have to observe 
nature, and to learn for ourselves from the ever-open 
book of the fields, the sun, the clouds, and the winds. 
XLIV. EARLY AND LATE PLANTS, OR 
DOUBLE CROPS. — We may now consider another 
matter in regard to plants and business. If our cli- 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. IO9 

mate decides what we must plant on our land, it also 
gives us a chance to produce from the ground more 
crops than ever appear naturally in any climate. If 
we examine the wild plants, either flowers or fruit, we 
shall find that each plant, whether it be a buttercup 
in the fields or a wild blueberry-bush on the moun- 
tains, grows through the entire season, produces its 
one crop, and either dies, or sleeps through the win- 
ter. With cultivated plants, particularly those in the 
flower or vegetable garden, it is quite different. We 
collect, in one garden, plants from every climate ; and 
we use some part of the plant for food or ornament, 
or for some other purpose, whenever it is fit to use, 
without regard to the life of the plant, whether it be 
long or short. 

To illustrate, we can take our old friend the lettuce. 
We plant the seed early under glass ; and, as soon as 
the head forms, we gather it and eat it. If we did 
not gather it, but left it to grow on naturally through 
all its life, we should soon find it sending up its 
flower-stem, blooming and perfecting its seeds. We 
do not want the plant for its flowers or seeds, so we 
pull it up for salad while it is still young. Suppose 
the seeds were sown in a cold-frame in March, and the 
plants set out of doors in the garden in May, and eaten 
the first week in June. As soon as the plants are 
pulled up, the ground they occupied is bare. It is 
too late to set out more plants ; for, by the time they 
would be ready to be eaten, the days are so hot they 
would not sjrow well ; still the summer is not half 



no TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

gone, and we look about for another plant to take its 
place. We select the common white turnip. Here is 
a plant with a longer life. It grows from seed one 
year : the tops die down in winter, leaving the root ; 
and, if the root is taken up and planted out the fol- 
lowing spring, it will send up a stalk, bear flowers and 
seeds. But we do not want the flowers or seeds. 
The whole value of the plant to us is in the root, and 
we can leave the seed-raising to the seedsman. More- 
over, we need not wait till the root is fully grown. 
We find it very good to eat when the plant is young, 
and before it has lived one-quarter part of its natural 
life. There will be time enough for turnips after we 
have eaten our lettuce ; and, as soon as the lettuce is 
pulled up, we sow turnip-seed in the same ground, and 
let it grow till frosty nights come in October. Here 
we have upset the natural order in which these two 
plants will grow, and have produced from the same 
spot of ground two crops in one season. Plainly, we 
doubled the capacity of the ground for giving us 
money. We have, first, lettuce to sell, and then turnips 
to sell, in the same time that the wild turnip is growing 
one year in the fields. The natural life of the wild 
plant will be two years ; but, by this changing of plants, 
we could get four crops in that time. We might plant 
early in the spring, pull and eat the turnips in July, 
plant again, and have more roots in October, and do 
this the next year, and so get four crops during the 
life of one turnip-plant. 

This matter of arranging crops so as to get t^vo, 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. Ill 

and even three, in one year, or three in two years, is 
one of the most interesting branches of the science 
of farming. It appHes to many of our vegetables and 
flowers, and to some of our farm-crops. It is the 
direct outcome of observation and study, and must 
be considered carefully by every one who expects to 
get any thing from the ground, either for food or for 
money or pleasure. We must lay it down as a rule, 
that, if the soil on which we stand is a bank from 
which we are to draw dividends in the shape of plants, 
we must not allow the bank to be idle for a day. As 
soon as the earth has given us one thing, we must at 
once make it give us something more. If we do not 
do this, but are idle and careless, the earth will go to 
work on its own account, and produce a fine crop of 
weeds worth nothing. The ground will not be idle, 
even if we are idle. It is for us to say what it shall 
produce. 

In this matter of producing two or three crops in 
one year, or three crops in two years, observation 
must teach what plants to use. Find out first the 
extent of the season where you live. Observe your 
local climate. Then observe the plants best suited 
for your climate and your market. To help in the 
matter, a few groups of plants will indicate what, with 
a little skill and enterprise, may be done. Study the 
subject closely, and, wiiether you are raising plants 
for pleasure or for profit, be not content with a single 
crop of any thing in one year. There will be, of 
course, exceptions. Currants or raspberries planted 



112 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

in the garden must stand year after year, producing 
one crop only ; and that is all that can be done. 
However, to offset this, when once they are planted, 
they do not require re-planting for a number of years. 
The number of these crops, like field-corn, cotton, 
tomatoes, asparagus, fruits, etc., growing one crop a 
year, you can easily learn by observation. 

To illustrate double-cropping, we can have two, or 
even three, sowings of lettuce, two sowings of peas, 
turnips, or beets, by gathering the roots early before 
fully mature. In regard to beets, the first crop may 
be only the tops of the young plants, used for table- 
greens ; and, as soon as cut off or pulled up, a second 
sowing, or some other crop, may be put in. Peas, 
bush-beans, lettuce, or early carrots may be followed 
by potatoes, celery, turnips, or beets. We may set 
out strawberries after our peas or lettuce are gath- 
ered, and gather the berries next year in time to 
pull up the plants, and get in a crop of potatoes or 
something else. This will give us three crops in two 
years. There are many other groups of plants giving 
double crops. These you should find out for yourself, 
from observation. As soon as any crop from seed is 
ripe, pull up the plants, and clear the ground for some- 
thing else. If the peas are gathered, why let the vines 
stand? We want the ground to give us more wealth ; 
and it will not do so unless we treat it with respect, 
and show we know our business. 

In flowers the same plan holds good. The hya- 
cinths that bloom in April must give way to the pan- 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. II3 

sies and daisies ; and, as soon as those are passed, they 
must be pulled up to make room for the bedding- 
plants. These, in turn, must be cleared off in time 
to put in our Dutch bulbs. 

XLV. CROPS IN SUCCESSION. — Plants show 
another curious feature in regard to giving crops. If 
we plant a row of sweet peas for the sake of the beau- 
tiful flowers, which we wish to sell or to keep for our 
own pleasure, we shall find the vines giving what 
seems to be a bountiful and beautiful harvest. We 
may think the flowers look well on the vines, and 
suffer them to remain uncut. In a short time they 
disappear, and we find the vines loaded with peapods. 
Now the black peas maybe very good for another year ; 
but we are not after seeds, but flowers. To prevent 
the peas from coming, we cut off all the flowers as 
soon as they appear. The next day more appear, and 
we cut again. We do this every day, and we find the 
flowers keep coming. The more we cut off, the more 
there seems to remain to be cut, — a happy illustra- 
tion of the fact, that, if we give away our flowers to 
friends, we shall have more for ourselves. The plants, 
being deprived of their flowers, at once produce new 
ones to take their place, and, if disappointed again, 
will keep on producing more and more till completely 
exhausted. This curious persistence in flowering after 
the blooms have been removed from a plant, appears 
in nearly all our common garden and greenhouse plants. 
The more they are cut, the more they bloom. Selfish- 
ness may keep all it can, and get little. Liberality is 
always profitable. 



114 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

If we had a quarter of an acre of corn, and wished 
to have sweet corn for our table, we might plant the 
whole of the land at once, and in time get a fine crop. 
We may have sweet corn in plenty, more than we can 
use, and thus much of the crop will be wasted. This 
would be good gardening, but poor business. The 
better plan would be to sow one portion of the land 
at one time, and then, in a week or ten days, to sow 
more. Thus we shall find our sweet corn ripening for 
the table in two lots. One would be enough at one 
time, and thus all would be consumed without loss. 
When the first lot had passed, the second crop would 
come in. In this way the ground would yield us just 
as much as when the entire crop was ready at one 
time, and there would be no loss. This is business 
and gardening, and one must always go with the 
other. Science and observation are good, but we 
must guide our studies with the rein of plain common- 
sense. The same thing applies to many crops. We 
might plant our field with one crop of potatoes, and 
have them all ripe at once in the fall. They will keep 
all winter, and thus we can save and use them all. 
On the other hand, we shall have our crop at the very 
time when other crops are plentiful, and the price of 
potatoes is low. If we are using them on our own table, 
we shall not save — or, in other words, make — so 
much money as if we have potatoes when the price is 
higher. Plainly our best plan is to have \sno crops, — 
one small early crop when the price is high in sum- 
mer, and one large or main crop for winter use. The 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. II5 

small early crop will carry us through the summer, 
when the price is high ; and the larger crop can be 
preserved for winter use. In like manner we must 
consider our land in relation to the climates in regard 
to the preservation of our crops. Potatoes, turnips, 
beans, carrots, and beets can be gathered, and kept 
warm in a cellar all winter. Peas, lettuce, string- 
beans, and sweet corn cannot be saved, and must be 
eaten when ripe. There are exceptions, of course, as 
we can preserve corn, tomatoes, and fruit in cans and 
glass jars ; but, for our own use, the best plan is to 
use these perishable plants when they are fresh and 
ripe. So we must consider, in planting, what propor- 
tions of each kind we may use. To plant so much 
lettuce, or so many rows of string-beans, that we can- 
not use them, would be wasteful of time, land, and 
labor, and the crops themselves. It would be wiser 
to have less of these and more of other things, like 
potatoes, that can be kept through the winter. 

XLVI. THE USEFUL PLANTS. — We have con- 
sidered the relations of climate to plants j we have 
made many observations of the sun, the winds, and 
rain, the days and seasons, in order to find how these 
things affect these sources of wealth ; and we may, in 
conclusion, look at these plants themselves to see how 
they are to be used in business. Plants may be useful 
to us directly as food which we may use on our own 
table, and thus enable us to save money ; or we can 
sell them for money, and use the money to buy other 
food, or any thing else we wish. It is ultimately the 



Il6 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

same thing, and thus plants become the means whereby 
we win wealth from the ground. We will look first 
at the plants good for food. Of the many hundreds 
of plants growing wild in the different climates of the 
world, only a very few have been brought together 
from different parts of the world, and are cultivated in 
our gardens. Of these some have been known and 
used for thousands of years, so that no man can say 
when they grew wild in some ancient woods : others, 
on the other hand, are comparatively strangers in our 
gardens, and were growing in a wild state less than a 
hundred years ago. These plants are the standard 
food-plants ; and all are suitable for gardens in at least 
one, and many of them in all, of the States of the 
Union : — 

PLANTS HAVING UNDERGROUND PARTS USED FOR FOOD. 

Radish, carrot, par3nep, beet, onion, Jerusalem arti- 
choke, potato. 

PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR STEMS OR LEAVES. 

Cabbage, watercress, spinach, asparagus, dandelion, 
artichoke, lettuce, rhubarb. 

PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SEEDS. 

Bean, pea, ground-nut, corn. 

VEGETABLES CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUITS. 

Squash, tomato, melon, cucumber. 

Many of these are divided into several varieties ; as, 
the squash includes the j^umpkin, the cabbage the 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. 11/ 

cauliflower, the onion the leek, and so on. All 
these are vegetables raised from seed ; and, with the 
exception of the dandelion, will not survive the winter 
in the Northern States. The asparagus and rhubarb 
are however perfectly hardy ; and, once planted, re- 
main, with care, in good condition, and give good 
crops for many years. Spinach will survive one win- 
ter, if protected, in the Middle States. 

LIST OF STANDARD PLANTS, SHRUBS, VINES, AND TREES 
CULTIVATED FOR THEIR FRUIT. 

Apple, cherry, peach, pear, plum, grape, quince, 
strawberry, raspberry, currant, gooseberry. 

These are hardy in all the States (at least some 
varieties are) ; and in the South the pineapple, banana, 
and fig can be cultivated in a few places. 

Next to these come the many varieties of nuts, 
nearly all being hardy. Then we come to the great 
staple farm-crops used for food, — wheat, buckwheat, 
rye, Indian corn, oats, and rice. Allied to these are 
those crops that furnish food to farm-animals, — the 
grasses, clover, corn, and oats. 

Next to these come those crops cultivated for their 
seeds, leaves, or other parts. These include tobacco, 
cotton, hops, flax, sugar-cane, and sugar-beets. These 
various plants used for food, or for fodder for cattle, 
or, like cotton, tobacco, and hops, useful in other 
ways, comprise the direct means whereby we may win 
wealth from the ground. There are many others used 
in various ways, and of less importance, as the sor- 



Il8 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

ghum and the sugar- maple. These are the chief 
plants, and give us our great staple crops, upon which 
all the people of this country must depend for food, 
and upon which the larger part of the people must 
depend for a support. It is the care and culture of 
these plants that has created the larger part of the 
business of this country ; just as their culture has made 
the chief industry of the world since men gave up 
being savages in the woods, and began to be men who 
observed and labored. 

In a certain crude way, men have recognized that 
the growth and health of tliese plants in some way 
depended upon the sun, the rain, the clouds, and 
winds. During the thousands of years that some of 
these ancient plants have been cultivated, men have 
learned from long and most discouraging experience 
that these things affect for good or ill all plants. This 
experience led, in time, to the formation of certain 
rules for cultivating each kind of plant. These rules 
are generally wise, and can be followed safely. At the 
same time they are, many of them, wholly false and 
mistaken, because they are founded on imperfect ob- 
servations. Many farmers observed, that, if the ground 
between the rows of potato-plants was stirred to break 
the crust formed over the surface after a rain, the 
plants grew larger, and produced more potatoes. They 
therefore came to the conclusion, that a plough drawn 
through the soil, and throwing the earth on each side 
against the plants, would help them. Did not the 
ploughshare disturb the soil deeply? If a shallow 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. II9 

stirring would help, then a very deep stirring would 
help more. Close and careful observation, a real 
study of the plant, would prove this might not be so. 
The plant is a living thing. It has roots extending 
through the soil in every direction, just beneath the 
surface. The plough, going deep under the soil, tears 
and breaks the tender roots of the plant, and does it 
more injury than all the benefit that comes from stir- 
ring the surface of the soil. Some one with more 
knowledge found, that, if the soil be merely raked over 
lightly, the plants grew just as well as, and in fact 
better than, if cultivated with a plough. Moreover, it 
was observed that the tender feeding- points of the 
roots were at the ends of the roots, and that the plough 
not only broke these off, but took the soil away from 
the place where it was needed, and put it against 
the stem, where it was not needed. Curious as this 
mistake-:-is, there are every year thousands of acres of 
potatoes cultivated in the old way. Our observations 
would tell us that the chief object in lightly stirring the 
soil is to open it freely to the influence of heat, light, 
and moisture ; in other words, to enable the plant to 
have all the benefits of the cHmate. Again, our obser- 
vations must not lead us to a half-truth. We might 
find our rainfall so heavy, and our potato-field so wet, 
that this ploughing between the plants would ser\^e to 
drain away the excess of water, and thus do less harm 
than would at first appear. In all things we must be 
guided by exact observation. 

XLVII. CONCLUSION. — This single illustration 



I20 TALKS ABOUT THE WEATHER. 

of the want of observation in the care of plants shows 
us that we have now reached a point in our studies, 
where the whole thing seems to widen out in many 
directions. We have seen that plants are one of the 
means whereby wealth is obtained from the ground ; 
and we have seen that their well-being, and even life, 
is dependent on the weather. We become observers, 
and are prepared to cultivate plants in a scientific 
spirit. We now look wider over the field, and find 
there are many other things to be considered. A 
plant requires food as well as light, warmth, shelter, 
and rest. It lives in the soil, and a very little obser- 
vation shows us that there are many kinds of soils. 
In some soils certain plants flourish, and return fine 
crops ; while other plants in the same soil slowly per- 
ish, or return such small crops that the labor we spend 
in caring for the plants is all lost and wasted. A 
plant is a living thing ; and yet, with a very few excep- 
tions, all plants appear completely insensible. We can 
cut them with a knife, and they do not appear to 
suffer. On the other hand, some plants will bleed to 
death if cut with a knife. They do not seem to suffer 
any thing like pain, and yet they die. We find also 
that all plants have vital parts ; and, if these parts be 
injured, the plant will die. Cut a ring round a tree 
through the bark, and its leaves soon wither, and in 
time the tree dies. Cut off all the roots of a plant, 
and it perishes. At the same time, a small portion 
of the top or the root of a plant may be cut off with- 
out injury to the rest of the plant ; and the part cut 



PLANTS, CLIMATES, AND BUSINESS. 121 

off may, under certain circumstances, grow, send out 
roots, and become a new plant exactly like the one 
from which it was taken. We are plainly entering 
upon a great field of study, full of the most interesting 
and curious subjects for observation and experiment. 
This study invites us to go on to see more and learn 
more. The great world of growing things — some very 
beautiful, some good and pleasant to the taste, others 
useful and valuable in many ways, and all, in greater 
or less degree, contributing to the wealth of all the peo- 
ple in the country — is well worthy our careful study. 
We have seen how much can be learned from careful 
observations of such common things as the wind, the 
rain, and the sun. We now come to the study of the 
plants themselves in their home, the soil which forms 
the surface of the planet on which we live. If plants 
are the means whereby we win wealth from the soil, 
it is plain we must go on, and by observation and 
experiment learn more about their lives, their habits of 
growing, and methods of continuing and multiplying 
their kind upon the earth. There is nothing difficult 
about these studies, nothing we cannot learn by obser- 
vation and experiment. These two, observation and 
experiment, are the keys with which we can unlock 
the doors to any science. And in this spirit we will 
now go on to the second book of the required read- 
ings of the Chautauqua Town and Country Club. This 
second book of the series is to be called "Talks 

ABOUT THE SOIL." 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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